Arlen Farber is not a particularly nice man, he is rude to practically everyone he meets, and even knows, and is very much comfortable with the idea of being a hermit. What he also is, is a writer of a hit book “God and Me” which is currently about to hit its 20 year anniversary. One day, Farber is suddenly hit with some serious back pain, causing him to fall down to the floor barely able to move. When his agent walks out on him for being rude to her, he decides to crawl his way over to a chiropractor. There, he is fixed up by Elizabeth, a single mom whom he instantly falls for. During his attempts to woo her, he also helps out a struggling alcoholic named Kris, who wants answers to his life problems.
The Answer Man is a romantic comedy that is more or less paint by numbers. The same beats are there, and the outcome is seen coming a mile away. However, the film carries mostly strong performances, and manages to be pretty charming in the process. The jokes manage to work, and the characters are interesting enough to not bore the audience to tears.
Jeff Daniels makes a more than welcome return to the screen. Here, he brings his a-game to create a worn out, yet highly sympathetic character, that generates all the laughs in the movie. Daniels manages to hold the film together. It was great to see him again, as I haven’t seen a recent movie with him in it. Daniels also manages to be the only cast member to have a 100% consistent performance the entire film.
The rest of the cast poses a problem, however, but I do not think their problem lies with them. Lauren Graham, whom I’ve enjoyed from the show Gilmore Girls, has a near wildly inconsistent performance as Elizabeth, one minute she’s smiles and rainbows, the next she has a chip on her shoulder. Sometimes, even in the same scene. Some bits that should be very funny are suddenly offensive to her character. However, I entirely do NOT blame the actress for this. Other characters have the same exact problem. There are just moments where things just feel forced. Where characters would just be angry, and I am left confused like I just missed a scene for the explanation. I mainly felt sorry for actresses Kat Dennings and Olivia Thirlby, who maintained good performances, yet neither have a particular motivation or a resolution, as they are tossed aside and forgotten about by the third act.
This leads to my biggest problem, which is the script. Written and Directed by first timer John Hindman, the script is a hit and miss. The dialogue and actions of certain characters felt extremely forced and unnatural, leaving the viewer wonder what exactly is going on. A scene, involving Thirlby in a spine outfit, seems to be played for laughs, but then she is unexplainably knocked over, and when she is helped up, she explodes out of her costume and runs away in tears. There is no explanation for this, neither is it brought up later in the film, it just continues on like nothing ever happened.
However, the comedic bits are great. The scene when Farber is on the ground in pain as horrible music is playing as funny, and most, if not all of his conversations with the named Kris, provide some genuine laughs. As said before Daniels greatly holds the film together, being the glue that keeps it from falling apart. Maybe a Golden Globe is in his future. I hope so.
There are some memorable and charming bits in the film, which made me like the film much more than I thought I was before walking in, but an inconsistent script bogs down, what could have been a real winner. However, I do recommend seeing the film as a matinee, or even when it arrives to DVD. It may not be a classic, but it’s worth seeing at least once.
Rating: 
