In The Answer Man, Arlen Faber (Jeff Daniels) isn't any old celebrity author. Twenty years ago, he wrote the mega-best-selling book Me
and God, in which he served up folksy New Age self-help epigrams that convinced a lot of people he had a direct pipeline to the Almighty. And now? He's rich and famous, and also a bitter, disillusioned recluse — a Mitch Albom who turned into J.D. Salinger. Daniels plays Arlen with a kind of cuddly crankiness; he makes him a jerk who just needs a hug. Arlen's salvation plays out with tender cloying predictability, though Lauren Graham, as the chiropractor who falls for him, has more spark than the movie deserves.
