the answer man
The Story:
Author Arlen Faber (Jeff Daniels), a cranky recluse who wrote a best-selling spirituality book titled Me and God twenty years earlier. His book inspired an entire generation with its insightful answers about his personal relationship with God.Since then, Arlen has refused all the typical author duties such as book tours, public appearances, and sequels, despite the pleadings of his literary agent (Nora Dunn). Instead, Arlen lives alone and listens to self-help tapes, practices yoga, and reads books on enlightenment trying to answer his own questions about life. When each new attempt to find inner peace fails, Arlen experiences fits of rage and attempts to destroy or otherwise rid himself of the defective merchandise.
Fed up with a series of self-help books that didn’t help him, Arlen attempts to sell the books at The Book Trader, a bookstore near his home in Philadelphia. He tries various ploys to unload the books there, but meets continued resistance from Kris (Lou Taylor Pucci), the shop’s owner, and his assistant (Kat Dennings) The store lacks the money to buy any books since Kris’s recent stint at rehab. While lifting the stack of refused books, Arlen’s old back injury flares up and goes into complete spasm soon afterward.Arlen’s back injury leads him to Elizabeth (Lauren Graham), a sweet chiropractor and single mother, who just opened her office in recent weeks. He literally crawls on his hands and knees to her office from his home, a gesture symbolic of his own desperation to have his prayers answered. They start a shaky romance, which gets derailed by Arlen’s ongoing crankiness and personality problems. Likewise, his bizarre relationship with the bookstore owner waxes and wanes seemingly without warning.
Starring:
Jeff Daniels, Lauren Graham, Lou Taylor Pucci, Olivia Thirlby, Kat Dennings, Nora Dunn
Directed By:
John Hindman
Release:
2009
Watch the Trailer:
