8/31/09

The Answer Man

This should be renamed. I'd call it "The Joys and Sorrows of Self-Help Books."

In this satisfying romantic comedy for grownups, always dependable Jeff Daniels ("The Lookout" and "Squid and the Whale") is the wildly successful author of a classic self-help book called "Me and God." (That title grates on my nerves because I had an English teacher who taught us NEVER to put "me" first in a phrase like that!) As a result of the lionizing, our hero has become an embittered recluse; he lives under an assumed name and refuses phone calls, invitations and personal appearances. Furthermore, he no longer believes in the message contained in his book.

Lauren Graham (shamefully un-acclaimed for 154 episodes of "Gilmore Girls") is a single parent raising an eight-year-old boy and opening a chiropractic office in her first venture as an independent business woman. She has made a life for herself and her son and clearly does NOT want to rock the boat.

Lou Taylor Pucci ("Southland Tales" and "Fanboys") is a young man fresh out of 28-day rehab, shaky but sober. He had the only key to his little bookstore in his pocket when he went into rehab, so his clerk simply left it locked and closed the entire time. He comes back to his little Philadelphia neighborhood business to find a financial catastrophe...no business...lots of bills....and his father is still a drunk.

We watch the paths of these three nice people intersect, tangle, get knotted up and snarled as each one struggles for a normal life.

No blowie uppie stuff, no betrayals, no gunshots, no car chases, three people to root for...plus a really cute little boy. Hmmm... I think I liked it!