St. Vincent

It's always a joy to see Bill Murray in a starring role, something he does seldom these days.  Seeing him in St. Vincent really shows what a talent he is.  He takes what could have been a cliched and one-note character, and makes him far more interesting with his performance and mannerisms.  He's supported by a wonderful cast, and a script that often feels a bit familiar, but never offends.  This is the very definition of a crowd-pleasing film.

Murray plays Vincent, a hard drinking man who lives alone, except for his cat Felix, and the pregnant hooker (Naomi Watts) that he likes to hang out with sometimes.  Vincent is more or less flat broke and is overdrawn at the bank, but still gambles at the local horse racing track as if he has nothing to lose, even though he frequently does lose.  The only friends he has in his life are the people at the local bar who tolerate him and the previously mentioned prostitute, who still sleeps with him, even though he is behind with his payments to her.  He lives in a ramshackle house that looks like it hasn't been cleaned in over 30 years, and is surrounded by a massive patch of dirt where a lawn should or probably used to be at one point.

A new family moves into the house next door - a soon-to-be divorced single mother named Maggie (Melissa McCarthy) and her young son, Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher).  Vincent wants nothing to do with them, and is happy to continue living his miserable existence.  Then, Oliver shows up at his door.  Some bullies at his new school have stolen his clothes (he had to walk home in his gym outfit), money and house key, so he can't get inside his house until his mom comes home from work.  Vincent begrudgingly invites the boy inside, and looks after him for the afternoon.  When Maggie comes home, she makes an arrangement with Vincent that she will pay him to look after her son every day after school, since her new job at the hospital will often keep her working late.  Vincent accepts, and before long, the bitter old man and the young boy are bonding as he touches the kid how to deal with the bullies, and also how to bet at the race track.  Oliver also discovers that there is more to Vincent than it first appears, and that the old man's heart may not be as cold as it initially appears.

Writer-director Theodore Melfi finds the right tone with St. Vincent, as it's sentimental without being gooey.  And even though this is a story that has been told many times, and the script doesn't really add any new ideas to the concept, it doesn't really have to, because the script knows how to make these characters into people we can care about, instead of just caricatures.  Murray and young Lieberher have a very easy and natural chemistry.  They don't overplay their mismatched relationship, nor are they required to get on each others nerves.  We can understand why this boy would cause Vincent's personality to soften a little over time.  Likewise, Oliver has been written as a very smart kid, but not so much that he feels like an adult in a child's body.  There is an honesty to the way these characters have been written, and the performances are equal to that honesty.

Even Melissa McCarthy tones down her usual manic and foul-mouthed comic persona here, and delivers a genuine and sympathetic performance.  She plays a woman overwhelmed by her new position in life as a single working mother who is in danger of losing custody of her son.  While she does get some laughs, it is the way she handles the more dramatic moments of her character that impressed me.  She does not overact, and while there is a scene where she breaks down under all the pressure she's been under, she does not play it up.  Again, it feels honest.  It is this honesty to the characters that I think elevates the movie, and makes it better than it was even written.  The actors sell this material perfectly, and don't overplay it.  Even if we know everything that's going to happen to these people, they're still interesting people, so we want to see what happens to them.

St. Vincent is charming, and often funny, and while it might feel familiar, it has been made with the greatest care.  We walk in with good spirits, happy to see Bill Murray on the screen again, and the movie itself is smart enough not to betray those good spirits by giving us a genuinely sweet little film.  This is a great example of not every movie needs to be an original masterpiece.  It just has to be done well, and make us fall in love with the characters.  Theodore Melfi has succeeded on both counts.

See related merchandise at Amazon.com!

1 comments