Paper Man

Low key with a very dry sense of humor and an undercurrent of sadness, Paper Man is the story of a floundering, chronically blocked novelist who settles into a cabin in a remote corner of New York State to write. The novelist, played like a dispirited Robin Williams by Jeff Daniels, can’t write because he’s become disconnected from life as well as his increasingly disenchanted wife (Lisa Kudrow). An imaginary friend guides hima superhero in tights and cape (Ryan Reynolds) whose advice is useful but ultimately limiting. The novelist becomes infatuated by a local teen (Emma Stone) who at first dismisses him as a creep; soon enough they are friends but their relations don’t follow the usual Hollywood formula. Paper Man succeeds in an offbeat, oddly moving way as a story about overcoming emotional obstacles. It’s out on Blu-ray and DVD.