The Answer ManMovies like The Answer Man
- Key Features:
- Reclusive author, Spirituality, Self-help, Redemption, Love, Personal growth, Cynicism, Searching for meaning, Second chance, Unexpected connection, Character transformation
- Tone:
- humorous, earnest, witty
- Target Audience:
- Fans of character-driven stories, Viewers interested in themes of spirituality, Those who enjoy heartwarming comedies, People seeking stories of personal growth
- Emotional Arc:
- Isolation → Connection → Hope
The Answer Man

Twenty years ago, Arlen Faber wrote a book about spirituality that became wildly popular. These days, he's a curmudgeonly recluse who only enjoys the company of his chiropractor, Elizabeth. As Elizabeth's warmth starts to melt Arlen's cold heart, he comes to realize what love really means.
The Answer Man
Carl Allen, a guy whose life is going nowhere, signs up for a self-help program based on one simple covenant: say yes to everything…and anything.

Each member of a group of people has a connection to a self-help book authored by a reclusive former football coach.

Ex-championship diver Victoras whiles away his days on the Greek coast, toiling away at a factory with only his dreams, medals and grandmother for company. When a phone call summons him to Germany, a simple road trip is the answer - that is until he crosses paths with the handsome Mathias - a free-spirited hitchhiker who tempts Victoras to take the road not taken.

Famous and wealthy funnyman George Simmons doesn't give much thought to how he treats people until a doctor delivers stunning health news, forcing George to reevaluate his priorities with a little help from aspiring stand-up comic Ira.

A romantic comedy that brings together three disparate characters who are learning to face a challenging and often confusing world as they struggle together against a common demon—sex addiction.

In a world governed by commerce, Ricky and Kate, dedicated employees, find their lives forever changed when they encounter the enigmatic stranger G. As they navigate the realm of commerce, their paths intertwine in a surreal dance of love, loss, and redemption. G's presence, amplified through the pervasive influence of globalized television, casts a spell that reverberates beyond Ricky and Kate, impacting the lives of those who bear witness to their intertwined destinies.

Two mismatched personal trainers' lives are upended by the actions of a new, wealthy client.

Because of his salacious language, late-night radio advice-show host Leon Phelps, along with his sweet and loyal producer Julie, is fired from his Chicago gig. Leon gets a letter from a former lover promising a life of wealth, but he doesn't know who she is. Can Leon find his secret sugar-mama? What about Julie?

After reading an article about hypnotic regression, a woman whose maternal grandfather died when she was only three years old contacts the hypnotic subject named in the article believing that he is the reincarnation of her grandfather, and hoping that she can learn the truth about how he died.

When a would-be psychologist, curiously named Dr. Mumford, comes to the idyllic town of the same name and offers his talent for listening and a disarming frankness, the town's quirkiest citizens scramble for a seat on his couch. As he lightens hearts darkened by old secrets no one realizes he's hiding a whopper of his own, or that he's fallen head over heels for one of his patients!

Herman has a weakness for strip clubs. Donny has a thing for condiments and Tiffany is a newly celibate martial artist. These are Andy's new friends after he unsuspectingly follows his dream girl into a sexual addiction recovery group. At first this seems like the best possible news! However, Andy's professional and personal life begins to unravel as he deepens his ties to this lovable, but damaged group.

Judith Moore is suddenly single after discovering her husband of fifteen years, a successful doctor, has been having an affair with a younger woman. Judith stews, plans, plots and fantasizes, but she can't decide what to do with her life until she goes out to a night club to see singer Liz Bailey, who is full of advice on life and love. While out on the town, Judith is suddenly kissed by a total stranger, which opens her eyes to new possibilities... which is when she notices Pat, the elevator operator in her building.

The film follows a man with an unwanted gift for healing who meets a teenager with cancer who helps him to find himself.

Interviews with leading authors, philosophers and scientists, with an in-depth discussion of the Law of Attraction. The audience is shown how they can learn and use 'The Secret' in their everyday lives.

Lee, a former Western film icon, is living a comfortable existence lending his golden voice to advertisements and smoking weed. After receiving a lifetime achievement award and unexpected news, Lee reexamines his past, while a chance meeting with a sardonic comic has him looking to the future.

Ed Hemsler spends his life preparing for a disaster that may never come. Ronnie Meisner spends her life shopping for things she may never use. In a small town somewhere in America, these two people will try to find love while trying not to get lost in each other’s stuff.

A smart, uptight attorney and a disorganized yet passionate and creative woman meet in a stuck elevator, and sparks ignite instantly. Will opposites attract, or are they simply passing time before getting off on different floors?

An advertising man is slowly sliding downhill. When he is fired from his job in Detroit, he signs up for unemployment. One day they find him a job: teaching thinking skills to Army recruits. He arrives on base to find that there is no structure set up for the class.

Overachieving actress Rebecca must come to grips with her failing marriage to stay-at-home dad Tom. While Rebecca's slacker brother Tobey can't seem to commit to his aspiring-novelist girlfriend, Elaine. As both relationships spin out of control, the two couples embark on a quest to rediscover the magic and romance of falling in love in New York.

Father, author and relationship expert, Matthew Taylor is on a whirlwind book tour promoting his new best seller, The Bounce Back. He's got it all figured out until he meets the acerbic Kristin Peralta, a talk show circuit therapist who's convinced he's nothing but a charlatan. Matthew's life is turned upside down when he inadvertently falls for Kristin and has to face painful truth of his past relationship.

An affable underachiever finds out he's fathered 533 children through anonymous donations to a fertility clinic 20 years ago. Now he must decide whether or not to come forward when 142 of them file a lawsuit to reveal his identity.

In this extraordinary story of an ordinary man, Charles 'Chuck' Krantz experiences the wonder of love, the heartbreak of loss, and the multitudes contained in all of us.

An ordinary man sees a bright light descend from the sky, and discovers he now has super-intelligence and telekinesis.

Holly is tired of moving every time her mom Jean breaks up with yet another second-rate guy. To distract her mother from her latest bad choice, Holly conceives the perfect plan for the perfect man, an imaginary secret admirer who will romance Jean and boost her self-esteem.

Beautiful, wild, funny, and lost, Katie Kampenfelt takes a year off before college to find herself, all the while chronicling her adventures in an anonymous blog into which she pours her innermost secrets. Eventually, Katie's fearless narrative begins to crack, and dark pieces of her past emerge.

Told from the man's perspective, the story of a couple trying to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone.

An aging comic icon, Jackie Burke, has seen better days. Despite his efforts to reinvent himself and his comic genius, the audience only wants to know him as the former television character he once played. Already a strain on his younger brother and his wife, Jackie is forced to serve out a sentence doing community service for accosting an audience member. While there, he meets Harmony, the daughter of a sleazy Florida real estate mogul, and the two find inspiration in one another, resulting in surprising consequences.

Alex, a lovable, unassuming dog trainer is in love with a great woman - Katherine - smart, talented, from a good family. Katherine adores Alex's quirky sense of humor, honesty and capacity to listen. Having decided to pop the question, Alex is blindsided when Katherine produces a detailed list of well-thought-out "improvements" she feels will tweak Alex on their way to becoming the ideal couple. Alex instinctively rejects the suggestion that he needs to change anything. But with the threat of a new competitor, Alex decides to "do the list." Guided by a coterie of friends that include: Dave, Alex's loyal childhood buddy, best female friend Lily, her husband Michael, and their 8 year old son, Nicky, Alex's journey has him reconsider and question his beliefs, values and world.

A widow with three children hires a handyman to fix her house during a major storm. When not doing home repairs, he shares his philosophy of believing in the power of the universe to deliver what we want.

A case of mistaken identity forces a Federal agent and a dental supply salesman to team up as they speed through the streets of Detroit to pull off a sting operation and solve the murder of the agent's former partner.

A single and lonely woman finds the seemingly perfect man to date, but soon regrets it when his deranged and possessive other personality emerges and worst still, she cannot convince anyone else of his Jekyll/Hyde true nature.

Hudson Milbank is a successful Hollywood screenwriter who suddenly and strangely finds himself without any emotional feelings. He tries doctor after doctor and shrink after shrink, but nothing works. The Golf Channel, lesbian exercise classes and a dizzying variety of pills get him through the day, but don't quite solve his problem. His writing partner tries everything to get him back to normal, but it's not until Hudson meets Sara that he finds a real motivation to get better and to actually start feeling again. From the writer of Deuce Bigalow, comes NUMB, a romantic comedy following an unusual man looking for strange love.

A husband-and-wife team play detective, but not in the traditional sense. Instead, the happy duo helps others solve their existential issues, the kind that keep you up at night, wondering what it all means.

Tony is a macho middle-aged school bus driver in the provinces with no friends or relations. A sudden heart attack throws him into a tailspin. Tony's convinced he's going to die. When his cardiologist warns him : We all need others. Alone, we're nothing. Tony decides to reconnect with the daughter he abandoned twenty years earlier, when she was just a baby. Still a coward, he's unable to screw up the courage to actually confront her directly. So he decides to sign up for a dance class she's teaching in Paris. Incognito, of course. To get to know her gradually… in a desperate attempt to give some meaning to his empty life. In the process, he has more than a few dance steps to learn!

Because she picked the wrong door, Anna ends up confessing her marriage problems to a financial adviser named William Faber. Touched by her distress, somewhat excited as well, Faber does not have the courage to tell her that he is not a psychiatrist. From appointment to appointment, a strange ritual is created between them. William is moved and fascinated to hear the secrets no man ever heard.

Roger Greenberg, a failed musician now making a living as a carpenter in New York, returns to Los Angeles to house-sit for his brother. He's stranded there—since he doesn't drive—until his brother's assistant, Florence, comes to his rescue. She's as much a lost soul as he is, and the pair form a significant connection—giving Roger a much-needed reason to be happy.

Hector is a quirky psychiatrist who has become increasingly tired of his humdrum life. As he tells his girlfriend, Clara, he feels like a fraud: he hasn’t really tasted life, and yet he’s offering advice to patients who are just not getting any happier. So Hector decides to break out of his deluded and routine driven life. Armed with buckets of courage and child-like curiosity, he embarks on a global quest in hopes of uncovering the elusive secret formula for true happiness. And so begins a larger than life adventure with riotously funny results.

A man's life is turned inside out after a visit from his college friend leads him into the unexpected.

Bertram Pincus, a cranky, people-hating Manhattan dentist, develops the unwelcome ability to see dead people. Really annoying dead people. Even worse, they all want something from him, particularly Frank Herlihy, a smooth-talking ghost, who pesters him into a romantic scheme involving his widow Gwen. They are soon entangled in a hilarious predicament between the now and the hereafter!

At the height of the Great Depression, the showman of a renowned circus leads his troupe through the devastated American landscape, lifting the spirits of audiences along the way. During their travels, they discover a man without limbs at a carnival sideshow. However, after an intriguing encounter with the showman, he becomes driven to hope against everything he has ever believed.

After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.

When a man is offered a million dollars to play a game in which hunters try to kill him, he thinks he has found the perfect loophole: they can only attack when he’s alone. His only problem is that none of his friends or family believe the game is real. Forced to seek companionship in unexpected places, he navigates the bizarre challenge with humor, paranoia, and a surprising search for connection.

Maggie is an alluring free spirit who won't let anyone – or anything – tie her down. But she meets her match in Jamie, whose relentless and nearly infallible charm serves him well with the ladies and the cutthroat world of pharmaceutical sales. Maggie and Jamie's evolving relationship takes them both by surprise, as they find themselves under the influence of the ultimate drug: love.

An eccentric scientist in the Amazon jungle rejects his research assistant for being a woman, but as bulldozers threaten their work on a potential cancer cure, they learn to collaborate and begin to fall in love.

Adam, a lonely man with Asperger's Syndrome, develops a relationship with his upstairs neighbor, Beth.

A phobic con artist and his protege are on the verge of pulling off a lucrative swindle when the con artist's teenage daughter arrives unexpectedly.

Louis is a super nice guy. But in his lawyer's office, this is not a compliment. When his doctor wrongly diagnoses a serious disease, his colleagues behaviour changes : they care about him, they ask him questions and they listen his answers. Finally, Louis exists ! So, obviously, he hesitates over telling the truth.

A self-help seminar inspires a sixty-something woman to romantically pursue her younger co-worker.

A doctor returns home for Christmas to find that her father has decided to retire from his own practice. After reuniting with her high school sweetheart, she wonders if she should stay and take over her father's practice.

Born in America and raised in an Indian ashram, Pitka returns to his native land to seek his fortune as a spiritualist and self-help expert. His skills are put to the test when he must get a brokenhearted hockey player's marriage back on track in time for the man to help his team win the Stanley Cup.

After a blow to the head, Abby decides she can't do it anymore. Her life just can't be only about the house, the kids and the wife. She needs more: she needs to be Eleanor.

Medium Sylvia Pickel and psychometrist Nick Deezy meet at a psychic research facility in New York. Not long after, they're contacted by Harry Buscafusco, who offers them $50,000 to find his lost son in South America, in the heart of Incan territory where they discover an ancient mystical secret, and each other.

Dr. Lisa Leland is a brilliant surgeon with absolutely no bedside manner. She is leaving her practice at UCLA Hospital to move to the Hamptons where she will join her boyfriend as a concierge doctor, treating the rich and famous. As she drives cross-country to her new life she hits a tractor in Normal, North Carolina and her BMW is wrecked. Dr. Leland is found guilty of speeding and ordered to do community service as a doctor in Normal, population 332. In a town with no wi-fi, no lattes and no credit cards, Lisa Leland begins to find herself and discovers what a meaningful life is all about.

Middle-aged and divorced, Wilson finds himself lonely, smug, and obsessed with his past.

It took a lot of cajoling to get Bob, a recently widowed architect, to go on a blind date at a quirky Irish-Italian eatery. Once there, he's smitten instantly not with his date but with the sharp-witted waitress. Everything seems to be going great until an unbelievable truth is revealed, one that could easily break both of their hearts for good.

A 40-year-old world-famous chef with anger management issues is assigned to run a cooking class at a centre for young people with autism.

The life of Orlando, a gentle piano tuner, tormented by back pain, changes when he meets Olga, a charming physiotherapist, who diagnoses him with an emotional contracture and asks him to bring her a photo of himself as a young man, so that she can help him resolve his problems. The unusual request will push Orlando to travel and to relive, almost like a spectator, the events of his life that made him the solitary and contracted man he has become.

When Champion City's hero Captain Amazing is kidnapped by the recently paroled supervillain Casanova Frankenstein, a trio of average, everyday superheroes -- Mr. Furious, the Shoveler and the Blue Raja -- assemble a new super team to save him.

After divorcing his ambitious singer wife, a middle-aged man begins a new relationship with a teacher.

On a small town college campus, a philosophy professor in existential crisis gives his life new purpose when he enters into a relationship with his student.

Retreating from life after a tragedy, a man questions the universe by writing to Love, Time and Death. Receiving unexpected answers, he begins to see how these things interlock and how even loss can reveal moments of meaning and beauty.

What a man is a comedy that tells the story of a young professor, Alex (Matthias Schweighofer), who after being left by his girlfriend Caroline (Mavie Hörbiger), begins a journey to know himself. But how do you overcome the difficulties of a man today? Or rather what is it that makes a man a man?

A mild-mannered bank executive mentors a teenage con artist and tries to make a career change as a doughnut merchant.

A mysterious stranger rolls into town on a unique motorcycle. All he carries is the bible and a desire for justice. Past vengeance collides as Ryder rights an injustice from his past and liberates the small town from a malicious oppressor.

An up-and-coming journalist finds his world and faith increasingly challenged when he's granted the interview of a lifetime – with someone who claims to be God.

A coming-of-middle-age comedy that chronicles the unlikely friendship between failed author Richard Dunne and a Long Island teen who teaches him a thing or two about growing up, all under the disapproving eye of his long-suffering wife and his imaginary Superhero friend.

The Accident Man is back, and this time he must best the top assassins in the world to protect the ungrateful son of a mafia boss, save the life of his only friend and rekindle his relationship with his maniacal father figure.

Newly single, 35, and uninspired by his job, Jesse Fisher worries that his best days are behind him. But no matter how much he buries his head in a book, life keeps pulling Jesse back. When his favorite college professor invites him to campus to speak at his retirement dinner, Jesse jumps at the chance.

Leveraging his ability to withstand pain, a young man trains to follow in the footsteps of his martial arts hero.

A young man turns from drug addiction and petty crime to a life redeemed by a discovery of compassion.

A cranky, retired author reluctantly embarks on a final book tour to help out a young publisher.

Obsessive scientist Nathan and his lover, the naturalist Lila, discover Puff: a man born and raised in the wild. As Nathan trains the wild man in the civilized ways of the world, Lila fights to preserve the man’s natural state. In the power struggle that ensues, an unusual love triangle emerges.

A recently retired man embarks on a journey to his estranged daughter's wedding, only to discover more about himself and life than he ever expected.

The charismatic Sir Lionel Frost considers himself to be the world's foremost investigator of myths and monsters. Trouble is, none of his small-minded, high-society peers seems to recognize this. Hoping to finally gain acceptance from these fellow adventurers, Sir Lionel travels to the Pacific Northwest to prove the existence of a legendary creature known as the missing link.

On his 83rd birthday, Eddie, a war vet and a maintenance worker at the Ruby Pier amusement park, dies while trying to save a girl who is sitting under a falling ride. When he awakens in the afterlife, he encounters five people with ties to his corporeal existence who help him understand the meaning of his life.

A college student starts to experience extreme seizures. She soon learns that the violent episodes are a symptom of inexplicable abilities.

A man, who years earlier mysteriously abandoned his family and isolated himself in a small northern town, returns for one last chance to reconnect with his troubled daughter. When she goes missing, he risks everything to find her, including exposing the fact that he is becoming invisible.

An earnest life-coach/author, Thomas Carter, is mysteriously abducted by a deranged client, Angel Sanchez, who delves into Thomas' teachings and uses his spiritual messages of Karma - action and reaction (Vipaka), against him to terrorize him and his family for their past sins.

Relationship Therapist, Dr. Jill Peterman, had the highest-rated call-in radio show when her world was pulled out from under her following the on-air suicide of a female caller named Alexis. Shaken to her core, Dr. Jill walked away from her show vowing she would never go back. That is until Stuart, the station's General Manager, pleads with her to reboot the show in an effort to bring followers back to the station. Still haunted by what happened, Jill agrees to help her friend out and believes this will be the perfect remedy to put her year-long anxiety to rest. As Jill starts to settle back into her show, mysterious call-ins start happening forcing her to believe there could be a copy-cat out there. What Jill begins to uncover is a web of secrets and lies stemming from the mysterious voice she has come to know as Alexis.

After years of caring exclusively for the needs of her husband and children, Agnes, a devoted housewife living in a small town near New York, has found something she really enjoys doing: solving puzzles.

Sylvia is a social worker who leads a simple and structured life: her daughter, her job, her AA meetings. This is blown open when Saul follows her home from their high school reunion. Their surprise encounter will profoundly impact both of them as they open the door to the past.

When underappreciated video specialist Joe Scheffer is brutally humiliated by office bully Mark McKinney in front of his daughter, Joe begins a quest for personal redemption. He proceeds by enduring a personal makeover and takes martial arts lessons from a B-action star. As news spreads of his rematch with Mark, Joe suddenly finds himself the center of attention, ascending the corporate ladder and growing in popularity.

Best friends since they were kids, Rabbi Jacob Schram and Father Brian Finn are dynamic and popular young men living and working on New York's Upper West Side. When Anna Reilly, once their childhood friend and now grown into a beautiful corporate executive, suddenly returns to the city, she reenters Jake and Brian's lives and hearts with a vengeance. Sparks fly and an unusual and complicated love triangle ensues.

A lady has her prim and proper life turned upside down after discovering her husband's affair.

A novelist is blinded in a car crash that killed his wife and several years later rediscovers his passion for life and writing when he embarks on an affair with the neglected wife of an indicted businessman.

Frank, a retired Irish seaman, and Walter, a retired Cuban barber, are two lonely old men trapped in the emptiness of their own lives. When they meet in a park Frank is able to start a conversation after several attempts. They begin to spend time together and become friends. But because of their different characters they often quarrel with each other and finally seperate after Frank misbehaves to Walter's friend Elaine.

A fugitive stumbles onto a movie set just when they need a new stunt man, takes the job as a way to hide out and falls for the leading lady while facing off with his manipulative director.

Workaholic Thomas Johnson dies in an auto accident and reincarnates as a dog. Remembering some of his previous being, he returns to his wife and son to protect them from the man who caused his accident. But, as time goes by, his memories return, and Thomas realizes he wasn't such a good husband and father.

A timid magazine photo manager who lives life vicariously through daydreams embarks on a true-life adventure when a negative goes missing.

Qin Fen, a funny, honest, single inventor, met a girl called Smiley, who was in agony of her boyfriend's betrayal. They traveled to Hokkaido, tried to help Smiley cure her pain in heart, and both of them gradually found their true love and life redemption during the journey.

At a crossroads after her divorce, a schoolteacher ventures toward a fresh start in life — and love — when she signs up for a grueling group hiking trip.

Claire’s life as a nurse in a busy hospital is complicated by a supervisor who is intent on making her miserable with tedious and extra tasks. Claire’s only relief is the patients she treats, and even that is not always a picnic. On a rare night off, she attends a dance performance and gets trapped in an elevator with a charming man. There is an instant connection between them, but as they are “rescued” from the elevator, they are pulled away from each other before they can exchange names and numbers.

Inspired by a true story, a comedy centered on a 27-year-old guy who learns of his cancer diagnosis and his subsequent struggle to beat the disease.

Charlie suffers from a serious disease that causes acute narcolepsy whenever he is happy. Although he develops a variety of techniques to deny himself pleasure and deal with his sleep issues, they’re put to the test when he falls in love.

Up-and-coming sports reporter rescues a homeless man ("Champ") only to discover that he is, in fact, a boxing legend believed to have passed away. What begins as an opportunity to resurrect Champ's story and escape the shadow of his father's success becomes a personal journey as the ambitious reporter reexamines his own life and his relationship with his family.

Joe Gardner is a middle school teacher with a love for jazz music. After a successful audition at the Half Note Club, he suddenly gets into an accident that separates his soul from his body and is transported to the You Seminar, a center in which souls develop and gain passions before being transported to a newborn child. Joe must enlist help from the other souls-in-training, like 22, a soul who has spent eons in the You Seminar, in order to get back to Earth.

Magically able to hear what men are thinking, a sports agent uses her newfound ability to turn the tables on her overbearing male colleagues.


