The filmmaking team of Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, after the mainstream excursion of The Nanny Diaries, return to the alternative cinema — home of their American Splendor — with a vengeance: a kooky comedy about a transvestite aspiring writer (creepmousy Paul Dano) taken under wing by an aging playwright manqué and escort of wealthy widows (blustery Kevin Kline), who’s politically a little to the “right of the Pope.” Taken under another wing as well by a middle-aged overweight dominatrix (a barely recognizable Patti D’Arbanville). The insistent oddness is so forced that John C. Reilly’s falsetto voice for the wild-haired downstairs caveman seems quite a reasonable idea, the most reliable laughs in the film. Katie Holmes, Celia Weston, Marian Seldes. (2010) — Duncan Shepherd
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