Young Louis loves F. Scott Fitzgerald and cross-dressing. One day he gets fired from the university where he teaches, because caught trying on a bra. Louis moves to New York and takes lodgings in the dirty apartment of Henry Harrison. Kline as Harrison is as quirky and hilarious as Otto in A Fish Named Wanda, only slightly older.
Louis and Henry have one of the most bizarre relationships I saw on screen. Louis starts working for an environmental magazine and sort of falls for Mary, a colleague, while exploring his fetish with paid professionals. Henry is very cagey about his past and very keen about his "job" as an escort of elderly, rich ladies. Louis is fascinated by Henry, and asks to be introduced to some of his friends.
Louis and Mary romance never really takes off. I found that more realistic than a love story, considering how weird the Louis character is. Having lost his father while young, Louis seems very confused about everything and hanging on to Henry as a father figure. However, Henry is very reluctant to taken on a fatherly role. Henry believes he is a gentleman, he has some repulsive ideas (women should not get an education), lives in a filthy and squalid apartment and forces his way as a guest in his rich friends Palm Beach houses.
More quirkiness - maybe too much? - is added by neighbor Gershon, an hirsute weirdo with a funny voice.
I liked Kline as Henry, because he made his pathetic and repulsive character almost endearing. John C. Reilly was also good as Gershon. Not sure about Dano's interpretation: a dreamer with little social skills, who likes the roaring Twenties and dressing as a woman is a lot to manage. Also, his Louis is not particularly sympathetic, which perhaps adds a bit of realism to the story.
