July 15, 2010

Cyrus - 2010

Directors: Jay & Mark Duplass
Writers: Jay & Mark Duplass
Starring: John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill, Catherine Keener

"Don't fuck my mom, John." John (Reilly), is a divorced man who meets Molly (Tomei) at a party one night, after being given some liquid courage from his soon-to-be-remarried ex-wife (Keener). John and Molly hit it off, but her mysterious departure in the early morning hours makes John suspicious. He follows her, only to discover the following morning that she has an adult son Cyrus (Hill), an eccentric young man with Oedipal issues who eventually makes it his mission to get John out of the picture.

I probably say this a lot, but this is a remarkable film. The Duplass brothers found the perfect balance of dark humor and drama, and the actors are all in top form, especially Reilly and Hill. The former succeeded where all others have failed: making me enjoy an actor portraying a character with the same first name; the latter seems to finally be coming into his own, and straying away from Superbad-esque roles that garnered him initial fame. My only real qualm with the film is a choice of cinematography: disconcerting quick zooms are used throughout, giving the film a slight pseudodocumentary aesthetic that doesn't really work.It's a relatively small issue, though, so don't let it turn you off from an otherwise superb moviegoing experience.

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