Directed and Written by The Duplass Brothers
Starring: John C. Reily, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill
Synopsis: John meets Molly and begins a relationship much to the dislike of her son, Cyrus.
Showing posts with label Cyrus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cyrus. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Cyrus- He said
Romantic comedies are ones those genres that make me groan continuously, and most of the time, they all hit the same beats at around the exact same time mark, and it gets rather tiresome. I honestly believe that one of the best ones from the last few years is (500) Days Of Summer and Ten Things I Hate About You; the former showed a different aspect and broke the mold, while the latter did the familiar formula in almost the best way it could. With Cyrus, the ever-hyped Duplass Brothers, directors of “mumblecore” hits like The Puffy Chair and Humpday, try to make their most mainstream effort of their career. Cyrus is the story of John, played by John C. Reilly, who has gone through a rough seven years since his divorce and is trying to get out in the game again. He meets the gorgeous Molly, played by Marissa Tomei, and the obligatory sparks fly. As the story progresses, John meets Molly’s son, Cyrus, played by Jonah Hill, as the epitome of a momma’s boy, who still lives at home and as we see, he feels threatened by John’s presence.
I had heard a ton of hype from both the Duplass Brothers and this movie from friends that had seen it, so my anticipation was very high. I admit I have not seen their former efforts, nor am I familiar to their style, so this might be a factor in me saying that while I enjoyed it, it was a bit over hyped and kind of disappointing. Let me say, there is nothing too terribly wrong with this movie, and it has a lot of really great points (mostly those relating to the actors). Out of the gate, Jonah Hill “wins” this movie; his acting here is so subtle and subdued that it solidifies his place as future dramatic actor. His Cyrus character says so much with just certain looks, the way he moves, and how he talks to people. The more and more I thought about, the more impressed I was. John C. Reilly was also quite fantastic although not nearly as impressive. Although, if he doesn’t stop playing sad dudes by the next movie he does, he’s going to start repeating himself Michael Cera-style. Since this was a fancy Dallas Film Society screening, we were able to see Mr. Jay Duplass, where he explained their loose style of shooting, and I feel this is a great asset of the film that lends a loose and organic feel to the movie. And the movie’s plot does take some unexpected turns from how I figured it would go if this were a bad rom-com.
Now, here’s the big problem with it, it can be a bit boring. I read up on the Duplass Brothers after seeing the movie, but have not had a chance to see their earlier work. I understand they like to straddle the line between uncomfortable and hilarious, and that’s never a problem in this movie, but instead there’s quite a few parts of this movie where it it’s truly slow. I kept on looking at Jonesy wondering if she thought the same. Since they use a few of the many beats that many rom-coms do, you can see what’s going to happen for a lot, but not all, of the movie, which adds to the boring parts. The other complaint, and I will not take credit this one to myself, from the amazing Gwen Reyes from NerdyPerv.com, she made the interesting point that Molly is a bit of a pushover, and she lets her fate being completely controlled by these two men, which she has what I believe are slightly messed up relationships with.
Overall, I didn’t find much to enjoy about this movie, as I feel that people seem to like the “idea” of the movie more than the movie itself. As an advocator of any and all talented people coming up through this rough Hollywood system, I want to like their efforts, but I think it’s just more hype than anything. The movie proved to be boring at way too many parts for me to recommend this to anyone, with the biggest highlight being Jonah Hill’s performance. As hype becomes a bigger and bigger factor in the movie world, I have to tell you don’t give in to it.
I had heard a ton of hype from both the Duplass Brothers and this movie from friends that had seen it, so my anticipation was very high. I admit I have not seen their former efforts, nor am I familiar to their style, so this might be a factor in me saying that while I enjoyed it, it was a bit over hyped and kind of disappointing. Let me say, there is nothing too terribly wrong with this movie, and it has a lot of really great points (mostly those relating to the actors). Out of the gate, Jonah Hill “wins” this movie; his acting here is so subtle and subdued that it solidifies his place as future dramatic actor. His Cyrus character says so much with just certain looks, the way he moves, and how he talks to people. The more and more I thought about, the more impressed I was. John C. Reilly was also quite fantastic although not nearly as impressive. Although, if he doesn’t stop playing sad dudes by the next movie he does, he’s going to start repeating himself Michael Cera-style. Since this was a fancy Dallas Film Society screening, we were able to see Mr. Jay Duplass, where he explained their loose style of shooting, and I feel this is a great asset of the film that lends a loose and organic feel to the movie. And the movie’s plot does take some unexpected turns from how I figured it would go if this were a bad rom-com.
Now, here’s the big problem with it, it can be a bit boring. I read up on the Duplass Brothers after seeing the movie, but have not had a chance to see their earlier work. I understand they like to straddle the line between uncomfortable and hilarious, and that’s never a problem in this movie, but instead there’s quite a few parts of this movie where it it’s truly slow. I kept on looking at Jonesy wondering if she thought the same. Since they use a few of the many beats that many rom-coms do, you can see what’s going to happen for a lot, but not all, of the movie, which adds to the boring parts. The other complaint, and I will not take credit this one to myself, from the amazing Gwen Reyes from NerdyPerv.com, she made the interesting point that Molly is a bit of a pushover, and she lets her fate being completely controlled by these two men, which she has what I believe are slightly messed up relationships with.
Overall, I didn’t find much to enjoy about this movie, as I feel that people seem to like the “idea” of the movie more than the movie itself. As an advocator of any and all talented people coming up through this rough Hollywood system, I want to like their efforts, but I think it’s just more hype than anything. The movie proved to be boring at way too many parts for me to recommend this to anyone, with the biggest highlight being Jonah Hill’s performance. As hype becomes a bigger and bigger factor in the movie world, I have to tell you don’t give in to it.
Cyrus- She said
Cyrus is a movie where the super awkward meets the super awkward. John C. Reily’s John is a mopey, still-not-over-his-ex-of-seven-years guy who has trouble getting a date (can’t imagine why). He meets Marisa Tomei’s Molly, who is a free-spirit, fun gal with a little secret-she has a college aged son, Cyrus (Jonah Hill), who lives with her, and they have an awkwardly close relationship. John doesn’t seem to initially mind that Molly has a kid because hey, we all have baggage. But slowly he begins to see that their relationship isn’t exactly normal, and Cyrus is a sneaky, conniving, jealous son.
Molly and John seem to fit each other well. They’re both flawed in different ways, but they dig each other and may even love each other. But Cyrus doesn’t like this. He doesn’t like John and thinks John isn’t right for his mother. So, Cyrus doesn’t pull the whiney kid mode or even talks to his mom about his feelings…he’s sneaky in a very conniving and almost scary way. He’s smart, and he knows how to manipulate his mother.
So there’s the plot. Boy meets girl; they fall in love; girl’s son doesn’t like boy and tries to break them up. We’ve seen it before, and we’ll see it again. However, the Duplass brothers take a different approach to this scenario. They put their characters in some of the most awkward situations and use personal camera angles to make you feel like you’re in the situation too. There’s some amazing character work that the Duplass brothers created. The subtleties of the acting between Cyrus and John are eerily perfect. There is so much said in glances, unspoken beats, and smirks that only actors with real talent could pull off.
The problem I had with the movie is that overall it seemed really boring and has an awkward pace. Maybe the pacing is suppose to be the point because there’s not much of a plot, just one awkward situation after another. I’ve been using the word awkward a lot, but I think that’s what the Duplass brothers get off on putting their characters in those situations.
Overall, the movie is good, I guess. I wasn’t blown away, and I liked the little moments between the characters rather than the overall picture. I believed all the relationships, as messed up as most of them were, and I felt uncomfortable in the places where I was suppose to. It’s a fresh look on an old story; I’m just indifferent to the whole thing.
Molly and John seem to fit each other well. They’re both flawed in different ways, but they dig each other and may even love each other. But Cyrus doesn’t like this. He doesn’t like John and thinks John isn’t right for his mother. So, Cyrus doesn’t pull the whiney kid mode or even talks to his mom about his feelings…he’s sneaky in a very conniving and almost scary way. He’s smart, and he knows how to manipulate his mother.
So there’s the plot. Boy meets girl; they fall in love; girl’s son doesn’t like boy and tries to break them up. We’ve seen it before, and we’ll see it again. However, the Duplass brothers take a different approach to this scenario. They put their characters in some of the most awkward situations and use personal camera angles to make you feel like you’re in the situation too. There’s some amazing character work that the Duplass brothers created. The subtleties of the acting between Cyrus and John are eerily perfect. There is so much said in glances, unspoken beats, and smirks that only actors with real talent could pull off.
The problem I had with the movie is that overall it seemed really boring and has an awkward pace. Maybe the pacing is suppose to be the point because there’s not much of a plot, just one awkward situation after another. I’ve been using the word awkward a lot, but I think that’s what the Duplass brothers get off on putting their characters in those situations.
Overall, the movie is good, I guess. I wasn’t blown away, and I liked the little moments between the characters rather than the overall picture. I believed all the relationships, as messed up as most of them were, and I felt uncomfortable in the places where I was suppose to. It’s a fresh look on an old story; I’m just indifferent to the whole thing.
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