Seriously, don't fuck my mom

My expectations for fellow New Orleanian (well, Metairie) filmmakers Mark and Jay Duplass are pretty astronomical. This is totally irrational and unfair, but what can they expect from me, you know? After two such incredibly accomplished films as The Puffy Chair and Baghead, I find it hard to expect anything less than great. And hearing that they'd be distancing themselves even more from their mumblecore peers and making a film with such fantastic actors as John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei, and with a slightly increased budget, I could only get more excited for their next film.

So now we have Cyrus. Is it good? Definitely. Could it have ever met my monumental expectations? Absolutely not. I wanted a small, funny movie with a big heart, and it delivered just that.... only not as well structured and satisfying as it should have been.

First, the good stuff. The Duplass brothers assembled quite a dream team here with John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill. Reilly is a sad-sack editor still getting over the divorce with Catherine Keener that happened seven years ago. They're still good friends even as she's about to be remarried. Marisa Tomei is a beautiful, fun-loving woman who sees something better and attractive in Reilly. She also has a grown son who still lives at home, and Reilly's entrance into his and his mother's lives is threatening to rip his "perfect" life apart. Jonah Hill.

Hill owns his role and this movie from the moment he's introduced calmly catching Reilly sneaking around his house. His concentrated, unmoving intensity as he plays his synthesizers is easily the film's best sight gag. His character houses a large amount of mental issues, but Hill plays up the funny to great success.

John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei are also great. Reilly is at his most emotionally vulnerable, and transitions well into the more competitive and nasty scenes between him and Hill. Tomei is, as always, beautiful and the uncomfortable love between her and Hill's character is very believable. But her performance does lead me into things I found less successful about Cyrus.

Jonah Hill's character is creepy and weird, but John C. Reilly's isn't all normal. He's desperate and finding love for the first time in a long while. This explains why he sort of stalks her, but that doesn't make it normal behavior. His relationship with his ex-wife is still more than a little clingy and weird. These character traits aren't a problem, in fact their subtlety is handled excellently by Reilly. The problem is that Marisa Tomei's character seems completely oblivious to his unattractive quirks that he's displaying right in front of her. Her being blind to her son's behavior is more believable as they seem to have never spent more than a few hours apart in 21 years. I blame this more on script than Tomei, as this was most likely just a way to keep them together while keeping Reilly's character rounded and weird.

Script accounts for other issues as well. The film takes too long to get all of its pieces together and for the love triangle to get nasty. Then it doesn't happen for a long enough time. And it goes into a very talky ending that wraps things up, again, much too quickly. The film is only 90 minutes, something I'd often appreciate. Unfortunately I really appreciated the slow and deliberate way the Duplass brothers put everything together. It was often hilarious, and involved some heartbreakingly vulnerable and awkward scenes from John C. Reilly. I just wish the rest had flowed at a relative pace.

As for the quick ending.... not good enough

Still a very enjoyable film from some very talented dudes. I'm looking forward to their next, the Louisiana-filmed Jeff Who Lives at Home.

7.6/10


Also watched: I've Loved You So Long

I don't have much to say about besides Kristin Scott Thomas is incredible in it. The movie didn't really hold me, and I found myself drifting in and out. Kinda sucky of me, I know. Hopefully I'll find time at some point to revisit something I'm sure deserves better than I gave it.