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Friday, October 21, 2011

recent movie review - Cyrus


Both John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill are mostly known for their frat party humour in films like Step Brothers and Superbad. So having both of them star in the movie Cyrus you would think you're in for another sophmoric laugh fest, but Cyrus is actually a somewhat serious film, which might explain why it didn't do very well at the box office, only grossing $10 million. I'm guessing that moviegoers went in thinking they were going to get one type of movie but ended up with another, which isn't very good for positive word of mouth. However, Cyrus is actually an extremely well made film with a smart script and Reilly and Hill give well mannered performances.

The film, which also stars Marisa Tomei, tells the story of John Kilpatrick (Reilly) who is divorced and depressed. His ex-wife (Catherine Keener) who still feels somewhat responsible for him, pushes him to go to a party where he meets Molly (Tomei.)  The two of them hit it off and before they know it are in a somewhat serious relationship. And while both of them have their baggage, Tomei's baggage is pretty big. Her son Cyrus (Hill) who is his early 20's, lives at home and Cyrus and Molly have a very close co-dependent relationship, and Cyrus is very jealous of anything that gets between him and his mother.

While you can imagine where the story will go, the script has some nice elements to it and all three of the leads give extremely good performances. Tomei and Reilly have many serious credits on their resumes, so it is Hill who really gets to show what he is capable of, and I'm sure this role will get him many more serious acting jobs in the future.  The film is directed and written by brothers Jay and Mark Duplass
Reilly and Hill
But don't mistake what I've said so far and think that this movie is all serious as there are several laugh out loud moments. The film is more on the low budget independent movie front instead of a big budget Hollywood comedy, so I'm sure that might also explain why it didn't do better at the box office.

So if you're a fan of Hill and interested in seeing what he is capable of doing outside of Superbad, or if you're just looking for a different kind of movie then check out Cyrus.

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