The Station Agent

Released 2003
Stars Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale, Michelle Williams, Raven Goodwin, Paul Benjamin, Joe Lo Truglio
Directed by Thomas McCarthy

It's really funny how people see me and treat me, since I'm really just a simple, boring person.

So says Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage), the hero of "The Station Agent." Nothing in life interests him more than trains. Model trains, real trains, books about trains. He likes trains. Finbar is a dwarf, and nothing about him interests other people more than his height. It's as if he's always walking in as the next topic of conversation. His response is to live in solitude. This works splendidly as a defense mechanism, but leaves him deeply lonely, not that he'd ever admit it.

As the movie opens, Finbar is working in a model train store owned by apparently his only friend in the world, Henry Styles (Paul Benjamin). Henry drops dead, and Finbar inherits from him an abandoned train station near a town with the unlikely but real name of Newfoundland, N.J. Nothing prevents Finbar from moving immediately to New Jersey and living in the station, and so he does, exciting enormous curiosity from Joe Oramas (Bobby Cannavale), who runs a roadside coffee wagon on a road where hardly anyone ever seems to stop for coffee. Joe has unlimited time on his hands, is lonely in a gregarious rather than a reclusive way, and forces himself into Finbar's life with relentless cheerfulness. Cannavale is such an eruption of energy that the two quieter characters almost have to shield themselves from him. There's humor in Finbar's persistent attempts to slam the door on a man who totally lacks the ability to be rejected.

Summary by Roger Ebert

Fin and Joe are very funny in this subtle, droll comedy, and I enjoyed the company of these characters. It was nice that Fin's stature as a dwarf wasn't the focal point of the film. It was present in every scene, but in the uncomfortable way when you're around a person and don't want to bring attention to a handicap. Peter Dinklage brings great dignity and weariness to his role, and he's perfect as a withdrawn, boring man who happens to be different. Bobby Cannavale is also perfect as Joe, who acts like he's still 10 years old. He cracked me up through the whole film, which I really liked. The only problem with it was the ending. It set up Olivia's crisis and then just kind of petered out. It was less than 90 minutes long, so I'm not sure what happened. It needed some direction at the end, and it could have easily been lengthened to provide closure. I'll give them credit for not closing with Fin and Olivia in bed, but they could have done better. Had there been more of a cohesive story, I would have given it four stars, but I still highly recommend it. --Bill Alward, July 1, 2004