I remember seeing a preview for this movie once a while back and thought it looked interesting, but then I never heard about it again. While roaming through Netflix one night I came across it in my queue and decided to check it out and very glad that I did.

Paper Man is a very charming dramedy with excellent performances by Jeff Daniels and Emma Stone who form a unique friendship that fills the opposite voids each character has in their lives. The type of friendship they form could have easily been ruined by coming off too romantic, but both Daniels and Stone teeter the line of awkward and endearing perfectly to keep the dramatic aspects in a comedic tone.

Then there's Captain Excellent, the imaginary friend to Richard Dunn (Jeff Daniels) played by Ryan Reynolds. Captain Excellent is the sarcastic "voice of reason" to Dunn that leads to many comical exchanges between the two. The sarcastic tone of the character plays well into Ryan Reynolds' wheelhouse and, because of that, I really enjoyed Reynolds in this roll. I thought both he and Daniels were great playing off each other.

All in all, this is a very solid flick that I would definitely recommend you check out.

A writer (Daniels) trying to start his second book and find himself meets a local high schooler (Stone) and a friendship is born. Richard (Daniels) has always been different, for one he's in his 40's and has an imaginary friend (Ryan Reynolds). His wife (Lisa Kudrow) drops him off at a house alone in hopes he will finally start his book. Not feeling inspired Richard rides to town and meets Abby (Stone). The mis-matched pair become fast friends and discover more about themselves in the process. I can not say enough good things about this movie. Emma Stone stole this movie, her acting was great and I expect to see awards in her future if she keeps this up. This movie has it all, great humor, writing, acting and is also very moving. Almost instantly you feel sorry for Richard and you really root for him the rest of the movie. Emma Stone and Ryan Reynolds really make you feel for them and you are right there with them trying to give Richard the push he needs. The ending is unexpectedly touching and I actually got a little choked up. I honestly could go on all day about how much I liked this movie, it's just a shame movies like this one (where the plot and acting take center stage) don't get the audience they deserve while "Yogi Bear" gets all the attention it can get. Do yourself a favor and watch this, you won't regret it. First time ever...I give it an A+

Richard (Jeff Daniels) is a published but unsuccessful writer, married to successful doctor Claire (Lisa Kudrow). The marriage is in low-key trouble because Richard is floundering, both in his writing and in life in general, as is made clear by the fact that he is accompanied by his childhood imaginary friend, super-hero Captain Excellent (Ryan Reynolds). As an unspoken measure of last resort, Richard goes to a holiday cabin to try to find his muse: instead, he finds Abby (Emma Stone), a youngster with issues of her own. A relationship grows between Richard and Abby, but it may well cause more problems that it solves.

Despite its relatively high profile cast, and despite the fact that I am an enthusiastic cinema-goer and film follower, I had never heard of this film under either its original title of Paper Man or the title under which I found it in the Pound Shop, Unlikely Hero. Add the fact that it appears to have been re-marketed as a quasi-super-hero movie, and I was unprepared for what followed.

The story is gentle and leisurely, but quite dark at times. It is not even slightly a comedy despite the DVD case giving that impression. Daniels gives Richard an air of affability, a mechanism he uses to compensate for his inability to deal with life: this makes it a little too easy to overlook how good his performance is.

But this is Emma Stone's film: she is wonderful.