Jul 2 2010

Movie Review: Jonah Hill is an Oedipal wreck in the dark-comic gem ‘Cyrus’

‘Cyrus’, the new film from the independent filmmakers the Duplass brothers, is a welcome and refreshing treat for fans of dramatic comedies. Instead of focusing on frat-boy scatology or self-referential pop gags, Cyrus takes its humor from the flawed quirks of its central characters and from the unpredictability that life is throwing their way. Forming an odd and uncomfortable triangle, John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill balance a neat hatrick of emotional instability, focused deception and deep yearning. This is one of the finest ensemble dramas of the year and it offers more honest laughs than any of the season’s other comedies. And, it must be said, there’s a real sweetness to it underneath the quirky and potentially dark exterior.

Written by: Nathan Bartlebaugh

Ninja Rating:

It’s not easy being the ‘new man’ in a family scenario where the mother is previously divorced and the son is a bonafide momma’s boy. Now imagine that the mother is in question is sexy Maria Tomei, and the ‘little’ boy is actually a 21 year old who looks like Jonah Hill. Oh, and Hill and Tomei are apparently so close that he doesn’t even balk at the idea of using the toilet while she’s taking a shower in the same bathroom.

Into this Oedipal minefield strides lonesome divorcee John (John C. Reilly), a man who never expected to find love again, let alone with someone as caring and generous as Molly (Tomei). Enter Cyrus, Molly’s twenty-something son who’s a would-be ambient music artist and avant garde photographer, still living with his mother and treating her as if she’s his life support. When Jim threatens to sever her undivided devotion to Cyrus, the older man finds himself provoked and challenged by the younger, who is ready to wage a psychological war for his mother.   

The basic set-up in Cyrus is a potential snarl of unsavory themes or overwrought sentiment. With effort and skill, Mark and Jay Duplass take their ‘mumblecore’ backgrouind, and draw out the three central characters in such a way that diffuses any unwanted subtext, whether it would be creepy or maudlin. The direction in Cyrus is neither flashy nor pedestrian, but it sets and dresses the stage for a familial power struggle where Molly and Cyrus make up the family and John is the goofy outsider trying to get in.  

The movie wisely keeps Cyrus and his existence hidden for the first third of the movie, while we get to know John and Molly and get a handle for how they work as a couple For example, John can sometimes come off as a manic nut, but he’s really just a nice, lonely guy who’s forgotten how to maneuver the romantic landscape. With a little help from his good sport of an ex-wife, Jamie (Catherine Keener) Jim cautiously attempts to connect with women at a party and keeps blowing it big time. Then he meets Molly, who finds him urinating in the bushes, drunken and forlorn, and doesn’t take pity on him as much as showers him with some welcome tenderness. The scene where she diffuses his humilation during a Red-Bull fueled rendition of ‘Don’t you want me baby’ is perfect in the way in which it creates an emotional bridge for the characters, setting them up to deal with the enormous manchild waiting at home.  

It’s hard to know what to make of Cyrus at first. When John meets him it’s after several dates with Molly and it’s because he goes to Molly’s house and discovers she has a son, not because she introduced the two of them. They become mutually aware of her desire to hide the other, and it’s probably the first switch flipped for both men. Cyrus seems forthright and welcoming, albeit a bit odd, and he’s clearly got an uncomfortably close level of intimacy with his mother.

Things start happening. John’s shoes disappear and Cyrus denies hiding them. Eventually they turn up in his room, in a place where it’s likely they were placed for John to find. Later, he announces he’s moving out to give them both space, but then he keeps turning up and playing on his mother’s fears and concern for him, slowly and methodically driving a wedge between Molly and John. In an intelligent bit of double play, he’s also set upon irritating and estranging John so that he might just give up, ceding Molly to Cyrus because it’s simply too hard. This plan fails because John has been single for so long, and likes Molly so much, that he’s willing to wait out Cyrus If that’s what it takes.

Jonah Hill is an actor I’ve personally never warmed to, but in Cyrus he’s found a role on which he can really cut his teeth. Previously, he’s come off like a smug, cheerful frat boy and for this role he’s channeling the darkside version of that image. This isn’t just a good performance. it’s an intelligent and rather brave one in the way in which it uses Hills’ weight and appearance to actually emphasize the less healthy aspects of Cyrus’ psyche. For instance, there’s something about the way Jonah carries himself, right down to wearing super large t-shirts like they were nightgowns, which makes him physically seem like a giant baby. His mannerisms and body movements are fine tuned to suggest someone who, himself, has been molding and shaping his behavior for the purposes of manipulating his mother’s feelings. It’s a tightrope walk when he’s staring at Tomei or glaring at Reilly. He keeps Cyrus from being singularly sinister or merely pathetic. We empathize with him, but we aren’t sure we really understand him either. Much of the suspense comes not in whether or not John and Molly will stay together, but rather if we will ever really make a connection with Cyrus himself.

John C. Reilly and Marisa Tomei are both wonderful and pleasing performers and I’ve even loved them in movies that I didn’t much care for. They do their job so effortlessly and become the characters so completely, that we never consider anyone else even stepping into these roles. There’s so much of Reilly’s persona and gifts built into John and Tomei’s senuality and warmth wrapped up in Molly that the chemistry they generate together feels like a real and living thing. If we couldn’t root for John and Molly, the rest of the film would have no bite or impact, and we would have less reason to care about the showdown between John and Cyrus. Keener as Jamie does some nice and subtle work in the movie, refusing to play sidekick, but instead serving as a foil to give the audience a more complete picture of who John is as a person. When we see that his ex-wife is still in his corner in some ways, we find it easier to trust him up front, and that too is important.

Even amongst independent films, it’s hard to find a comedy that is both honest and funny, and that doesn’t sacrifice its characters for laughs or tears. Cyrus, a surprisingly heartfelt film considering the premise and execution, is that refreshing exception that reminds us that sometimes watching flawed people in the act of living is more satisfying than any number of contrived calamaties.

By Nathan • Film • 2 • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,