I have one question for “The Answer Man”: How did you get made?
This shopworn and utterly contrived romantic comedy stars Jeff Daniels as the grumpy author of a popular book about his conversations with God.
He is a recluse hiding in plain sight in Philadelphia, where his back spasms send him literally crawling to the local chiropractor (Lauren Graham).
I could see the sparks flying, but they were being generated by my back teeth. The two principals bat around their cute neuroses (he is particular about his collection of toy monsters, she is overprotective of her son) as the Daniels character creates an equally phony friendship with the local used-bookstore manager (Lou Taylor Pucci), who agrees, in one of those only-in-a-screenplay situations, to accept donations of unwanted books from the author in exchange for being able to ask him wide-eyed questions about existence.
Brutally banal chitchat about life and love ensues.
Running time: 95 minutes. Rated R(profanity). At the Sunshine, Houston Street, near First Avenue.