Paul Giamatti playing Paul Giamatti. Or at least a caricature of Paul Giamatti. I think actors have fun when they get a chance to play themselves and it generally shows on screen. Giamatti gets to be the struggling, mid-level actor working off-Broadway as a means of showing he is serious. But when he has trouble getting into the part (Chekhov's Uncle Vanya), he takes advantage of a soul extraction and storage service. The thought is that without his soul, he will be free of the weight of being only a mid-level star and be able to fully embrace the role. Unfortunately, he is completely unable to tap into any sort of emotion or gravitas needed to play Vanya. And unfortunately, this is where the film falls short. Instead of capitalizing on an opportunity to really show what it means to be soul-less (and later to have another soul within him) through acting, we are forced to get the point through dialogue. Giamatti basically has to tell us what he is experiencing because we can't see any difference otherwise. But maybe that is a bit too much seriousness to ask for such a light hearted stab at one of the deepest questions that exists. In fact, the soul extraction salesman even states explicitly that they don't know how anything works, they just know how to extract and reinsert. Overall, we get fun little tidbits about the soul, hints at how it might work, and a little bit of metaphysical keystone cops to make this enjoyable. And Giamatti does a pretty good job with himself...
3-stars (out of 5)
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