Cyrus (2010)

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Don't listen to the negative reviews

An Exercise In Nonsense

Absolutely Brilliant!

A simple tale of a son's affection for his mother and doing anything to stop interference. A short but sweet film which manages to mix comedic timing, hilarious jokes but at the same time reach levels of emotional maturity. John meets his perfect match at a mutual friends party but before a life of happiness and romance can ensue he must battle her quirky and over protective son Cyrus. When you first get into this film you expect a run of the mill comedy, nothing that hasn't already been made, but Cyrus manages to bring out great performances by comedic superstars John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill. They both manage not only to showcase their acting ability but there potential for leading roles, their on screen chemistry and battle is much like the one of Reilly and Ferrell in Step Brothers. You can never fault Marisa Tomei, an academy award winning gem who deserves more spotlight and leading roles and her role Molly proves that.The Duplass' showcase their ability to tell a genuine heartfelt story, and don't rely to heavily and the comedy to make the film entertaining. They strike a perfect balance of drama and laughter and the film deserves all the acclaim it receives. An outstanding example of comedy, romance and drama done right.

John (John C. Reilly) is in a rut. His ex-wife and best friend Jamie (Catherine Keener) is getting remarried after 7 years. She pushes him to go to a party and he meets the wonderful Molly (Marisa Tomei). They have terrific chemistry together. However Molly never brings her to her home and he follows her. He finds her son Cyrus (Jonah Hill) living with her. He's almost 22 or 21, a real mamma's boy and her bff. He is territorial and passive aggressive in trying to push John out.While I understand where this movie is coming from, I didn't find it at all funny. Jonah Hill is super creepy weird unlikeable, and not the fun wacky quirky. He is uncomfortable and bordering on unwatchable. He has so much buried anger and it is never allowed to be laugh at by making it wacky. It is simply a tiring thing to watch. As for the chemistry between Reilly and Tomei, it's functional. They are very charming actors and I like them. Their relationship isn't really the star of the movie. I admire the daring characterization from Jonah Hill, but I just didn't like it.

Sitting at the house, wait. What's that? The movie Cyrus was on HBO, and I've been wanting to see it the entire time. I've seen the trailer, the TV spots, they all looked really great. Looked really funny too! Great score on Rotten Tomatoes, great reviews from Metacritic. I was all set. This was going to be a comedy worth seeing. But the score on IMDb kind of set me off. I mean, it's understandable that critics and people have whole different perspectives, especially how critics rate movies on how well the film did as a whole, but I see my myself as an average Joe. Nothing lower, or higher. But I went to go see it. I prepared myself for a comedy (and keep that in mind) and pressed play...I really liked it. It was actually a well-done film. The acting was on par, the directing was done well, and the humor kept going. I was quite surprised at how my expectations were so little, but then sprung up more than I would've realized. Except it wasn't anything what I would've suspected...This is the reasoning to the low IMDb score and the high critical scores. The movie was not your average comedy. It was somewhat of a dark comedy slash character study slash disturbing piece of work. But it saddens me that your average film goers didn't like it just for the reasoning of their expectations. I mean, sure, I really wasn't a expecting a film like this but lowering the score doesn't mean anything towards it. I really enjoyed it, people shake their head in disagreement? Why? Because the film was marketed wrong? Okay, then. That makes loads of sense. Other than that fact, the movie was great. I really did like it. The person who stood out the most for me (whoa, that's ironic) is Cyrus played by none other than Jonah Hill. He surprises me with his work, especially how he can play such diversity. He's one of my favorite actors working today just for his expansion of films. And the last thing I want to talk about is how the film is layered. Just when the movie is about to go over-the-top (and I mean in a unrealistic way) it stops itself right there. It goes into this realistic way that shows the awkwardness of life and the movie is totally getting at something different than the previews suggest. So I recommend for people that actually have minds, and can watch a film without having the expectation for a comedy, but hating it just because of this. Great movie, totally not unexpected.8/10.

Really great actors draw out a super boring story that could be told in a few seconds: nice guy meets milf whose son resists the new relationship, then reconciles. Every scene was really slow as if they were all on sedatives. Hate that use of zoom that I associate with 'the office' where the camera wobbles and then zooms into a character right before they pivot or have a realization. So self-aware and fake. Please, people who make movies: don't make anything like this ever again. Thanks. Really great actors draw out a super boring story that could be told in a few seconds: nice guy meets milf whose son resists the new relationship, then reconciles. Every scene was really slow as if they were all on sedatives. Hate that use of zoom that I associate with 'the office' where the camera wobbles and then zooms into a character right before they pivot or have a realization. So self-aware and fake. Please, people who make movies: don't make anything like this ever again. Thanks. Really great actors draw out a super boring story that could be told in a few seconds: nice guy meets milf whose son resists the new relationship, then reconciles. Every scene was really slow as if they were all on sedatives. Hate that use of zoom that I associate with 'the office' where the camera wobbles and then zooms into a character right before they pivot or have a realization. So self-aware and fake. Please, people who make movies: don't make anything like this ever again. Thanks.