Cyrus

2010 comedy

Rating: 14/20

Plot: John, played by a guy named John, meets beautiful Molly, played by a woman named Marisa, at a party and they hit it off and later "do it," an act that I imagine would be absolutely amazing for at least one of them. John, recently divorced, finds Molly's home and meets her titular son, played by Barry's favorite actor. Cyrus is an older child but a needy man-child who still lives with and is attached to Mommy. Molly's new friend and her old son don't get along very well.

Boy, I thought I was hating this one, and ol' randy Ghost Gene and I were really only sticking with it with the hope that Marisa Tomei would be naked at some point since she usually is. John C. Reilly brought his Will Ferrell game to the opening of this, really hamming it up with some drunken antics at a party. By the time he urinates on a plant, I was disappointed that he was in another of those types of movies. You know, the types where characters urinate on plants for comic purposes. An early scene with Reilly pleasuring himself, a scene that ends with a nice shot of his posterior if you're into that sort of thing, didn't exactly set the right kind of tone either. But once Tomei, who isn't naked at all if you're into that sort of thing, enters the story, things get a lot better and Reilly actually gives a nice layered performance and never overcooks the comedy. Tomei is very good as this character on this balance beam. It's a delicate performance, and you connect with her and feel for her without her having to do much that seems too much like acting. You know who else isn't half bad here? Jonah Hill, who plays awkward almost like it's a diagnosable mental illness. He's also not naked, by the way, but there is a scene where you see more of his legs than you'd probably care to see. His Cyrus never really feels all that real to me, more a movie character in the vein of Macaulay Culkin's in The Bad Seed, but it works to create the right kind of awkwardness. I've written more than once on this blog about how modern comedies are more awkward than funny, but this one, like other independent understated comedies (Punch Drunk Love maybe), manages to work. I could have done with a better ending and a little more Catherine Keener. I also thought the score was oppressive.