War of the Words

Our critic tackles political satire "In the Loop" and indie comedy "The Answer Man."

Packaged as another reminder of what a terrific actor Jeff Daniels is, “The Answer Man” is a B-minus indie comedy that probably couldn’t have been any better because its writer, John Hindman, doesn’t appear to have any particular attitude toward, or insight into, anything he’s showing us. Daniels plays Arlen Faber, a man who wrote a legendary bestseller titled “Me and God,” about his conversation with The Almighty, then didn’t write another word for 20 years and eventually became a cranky hermit. There’s a decent enough tradition for this kind of picture — the misanthrope-rejoins-society story, a genre elastic enough to include everything from “The Outlaw Josey Wales” and “Nobody’s Fool” to “As Good as it Gets” and “American Splendor.” But “The Answer Man” muffs its potential via inconsistent writing and sub-Hollywood waffling. Faber and the other major characters — including a local bookstore owner named Kris (Lou Taylor Pucci), a recovering alcoholic who lives with his old, drunk father, and Arlen’s love interest, Elizabeth (Lauren Graham), the single mom and chiropractor who helps him through a back injury — behave however the film needs them to behave in order to get to the next scene or elicit a particular reaction from the audience.

In some scenes, Arlen’s a miserable bastard — another self-styled “truth-teller” character who feels entitled to insult fellow customers at Kris’ bookshop, Kris himself, and even Elizabeth’s son’s teacher (talk about an asshole) without a moment’s hesitation. In other scenes, he’s not merely charming, but temperate and wise — a rock other people can lean against. (I didn’t believe for a minute that a man who could ream out a public elementary school teacher would come up with the gem of an observation about how little kids don’t understand that you’re supposed to squeeze the other person’s hand during a handshake — that to them, it’s just a chance to hold hands with someone for a few seconds.) Jack Nicholson’s character in “As Good as it Gets” was insufferable, too, but he was consistent; whether he was behaving badly on purpose or trying to be decent and failing, you always felt you were watching the same guy from scene to scene. As written, Arlen is more a list of colorful traits than a bona fide character.

I can’t buy that a man who built his reputation on a book about God — however fraudulently conceived it turns to have been — would go about his spiritual quest in such a clueless way, clomping into a Catholic church, putting five bucks in the offering plate, sitting in the pews for a while waiting to feel God’s presence, then leaving the place and snatching his fiver back from the plate. (A 12-year old who’s been to a single Sunday school class would be more patient than Arlen. God’s not a 411 operator, answering every call that comes along.) The film’s most intriguing speculation — that God created humanity for His entertainment — comes and goes within a single half-baked scene; it should have been the philosophical backbone of the movie.

To be fair, if Daniels — whose somewhat similar one-hit-wonder novelist in “The Squid and the Whale” was both more abrasive and touching than Arlen — never finds the hero’s center, it’s because the script doesn’t give him one. And Daniels and his fellow actors aren’t helped by Teddy Castellucci’s spell-it-all-out score, which includes “Ahoy! Wacky slapstick ahead!” tango cues, tinkly piano music for the bittersweet confessional scenes, and other soundtrack equivalents of using a label maker to affix the words “Can of Beets” to a can of beets.

There are a few memorable quips and moments, particularly the set piece that shows an injured Arlen lying paralyzed on his floor while a vinyl record player repeats “Isn’t It Romantic?” over and over. And Graham, a lived-in eccentric who’s nearly incapable of hitting false notes, almost turns her contrived character into the film’s only fully credible human being. But these are bright spots in a mostly dim effort. “The Answer Man” is so confused that not even divine intervention could have saved it.

Matt Zoller Seitz is our guest critic for the month of July.

“In the Loop” and “The Answer Man” open July 24th in limited release.

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