Paper Man (2009) - 4 stars out of 10

Paper Man (2009) - 4 stars out of 10

"Paper Man" is another of those films that could have been great but suffers from poor execution.  I thought that the concept of having a childhood imaginary friend following him around was pretty cool, but it just became gimmicky after awhile.  That character could have had a meaningful impact on the movie but in the end, he was a small piece of symbolism instead of the conscience that the writers hinted that he could be.  I didn't really like the movie but I loved the performance by Emma Stone.  Her emotional monologue about her sister as the camera slowly moves toward her from across the room over the course of several minutes gives the entire thing a personal feel and is absolutely consuming.  The rest of the acting below average.  I feel like Jeff Daniels could have really proved that he's still "got it" as a dramatic actor, but you have to go all the way back to "Gettysburg" to be impressed by this actor.  Lisa Kudrow should stick to comedies and Ryan Reynolds probably could have been amazing in the role of Captain Excellent if the character had been written better.  I hope that someone else will grasp the "childhood imaginary friend in the form of a superhero" concept and do it the right way because, without any sort of rhythm, "Paper Man" drags on with poor dialogue and bad acting.