Post by StevePulaski on Mar 29, 2015 22:40:24 GMT -5
St. Vincent (2014)
Directed by: Theodore Melfi
Directed by: Theodore Melfi
Bill Murray and Jaeden Lieberher.
Rating: ★★★
Vincent MacKenna (Bill Murray) is a chainsmoking, alcoholic, gambling Vietnam veteran in debt to a hustler and desperately trying to care for his wife, who lives in a nursing home and can't even recognize him anymore due to Alzheimer's. One day, Vincent gets a rude awakening in his filthy little home by a moving truck crashing into his tree, with a branch detaching and damaging his vehicle. The movers are helping Maggie Bronstein (Melissa McCarthy) and her twelve-year-old son Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher) move into their new home, and Vincent gives them the curmudgeon's greeting by demanding Maggie pay for Vincent's damaged fence and tree. Anyone marginally acquainted with the concept of movies knows this will not be the last encounter these two have with one another.
When Oliver's keys, wallet, and phone are stolen in school, he resorts to staying by Vincent's until his mother arrives to pick him up. Due to Maggie's hectic schedule, this winds up becoming a regular occurrence, with Vincent's accepting twelve dollars an hour to watch the boy, making sure he does his homework and gets something to eat. The two strike up an unlikely friendship, with Vincent showing Oliver the ropes of betting on horseracing and bar-hopping, along with a few fighting moves as well. It's a classic, unconventional movie relationship that aims to illustrate the impact unlikely souls can have on one's character and person.
St. Vincent's overarching idea of "sainthood" stems from Oliver's Catholic school class discussions about the significance of a saint and what the common attributes are of one. These classroom scenes are commanded by an uproariously funny Chris Dowd, and the illustrations St. Vincent makes of those saintlike qualities is quite remarkable. It helps us see that, with some people, specifically Vincent, who is complicated, disorganized, and a thoroughly flawed person, comes an unexpected level of selflessness and nobility that we cannot see because we are too busy emphasizing a person's flaws rather than the features that make them a commendable person. The examination that sainthood and noble behaviors can still exist beyond the surface of a person's flaws is an extremely important message that writer/director Theodore Melfi constructs quite nicely.
It's true, however, that St. Vincent can be sentimental, especially during its ending, when its titular character's cynicism and overall dark tone is overshadowed by a momentary recognition of his accomplishments in a way that tends to his prowess and the audience's emotional complex. It's definitely not as bad as it could be, as the film's moodier tone and black comedy save it from becoming too distracted with sentiment, but I'd go as far to say it comes a bit out of nowhere because of the film's preceding events. The film is structured through a more pessimistic lens on situations and life itself thanks to its titular character, so to see the film change course at the end to make for a cutesy wraparound almost seems slightly disingenuous.
This attribute can't distract from the real talent that's displayed on screen, however. Bill Murray plays a remarkably likable character for being so miserable, and he's assisted by a great deal of supporting actors, who do just that - support the film in a way that feels substantial rather than just acting as an existing presence (this is also thanks to Melfi's writing, which is careful to have each character play a part rather than simply being an empty character). Alongside Murray, the performance of the hour is by Melissa McCarthy, who proves that she can perform just fine in a dramatic role if you give her the leeway and bear the confidence to allow her to do so. McCarthy has been shortchanged dearly in terms of growing as an actor due to the amount of ridiculous roles she's given, which do nothing but show how many vulgarities she can incorporate into one sentence. Here, McCarthy is required to balance some sort of emotional impact with a thoughtful character performance and she handles the task better than all assumptions would lead you to believe. Then there's Jaden Lieberher, who has no problem assimilating himself with his talented and A-list costars, creating a character we can not only like but believe in the way he handles himself. He's just unique enough to be the precocious child in a film but just original enough to see as more than a storytelling device.
St. Vincent is arguably one of the cutest black comedies ever made; a comedy boasting a great deal of dark humor that doesn't find itself crippled by its use of sentimentality but rather quietly burdened. Thankfully, as seen with a lot of other films that bear burdens in their ending or their overall themes, St. Vincent has enough working in its favor, that it's easy to see past those features and into a film that has a great deal of pleasantries and strong qualities that make it a solid adult drama in the age of few and unsubstantial ones.
Starring: Bill Murray, Jaeden Lieberher, Melissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts, Donna Mitchell, and Terrence Howard. Directed by: Theodore Melfi.