Fresh
Aided by subtly wounded performances by Daniels and Stone, and a surprisingly affecting comic turn from Reynolds, Paper Man makes up for many of its shortcomings with an abundance of heart.
Ian Buckwalter, NPR
Paper Man
A little imagination goes a long way
2009 · 1h 50m · R
Comedy, Drama
Directed by
Kieran Mulroney
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Paper Man
Overview
A coming-of-middle-age comedy that chronicles the unlikely friendship between failed author Richard Dunne and a Long Island teen who teaches him a thing or two about growing up, all under the disapproving eye of his long-suffering wife and his imaginary Superhero friend.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
33%
Tomatometer
Rotten
The manipulations characters act out with each other are realistic, even if the overlong and not-nearly-twee-enough comedy built around them isn't, making for a movie whose script may have had more merit than its execution. Or not.
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel
Rotten
A big Twinkie stuffed with indie-film cliches and glazed with chiming emo guitars.
Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Reader
Rotten
What we have in this film is a whole lot of nothing, and the little that's there is irritating.
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Rotten
We don't even get a real sense of what kind of writer Richard is, or even if he's any good. It does make a difference, after all, if the novel he can't write is worth writing. A bigger question: Was "Paper Man" worth making?
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
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