Movie Review - Cyrus

"What are you doing in the jungle with Shrek?"

There has never been an elephant in the room quite like Jonah Hill in the Duplass brothers' fantastic new indie flick, "Cyrus". Hill plays the title character, Cyrus, the son of the gorgeous single mom Molly, played by Oscar nominee Marissa Tomei. They have an unusually strong relationship; as Cyrus is a mature and sophisticated young man of 21, he is also very emotionally underdeveloped, and unusually close with his mother.

This is a pretty big surprise to the lead character, John, a lonely and depressed middle-aged man played with brilliant awkwardness by John C. Reilly. John struggles with his self esteem as his ex-wife of 7 years but still close friend prepares to get married. John feels as if all is lost until he meets Molly. She seems just right for him - until we are introduced to Cyrus. John is cool with the awkward relationship at first, but then things get more complicated. As it turns out, Cyrus secretly despises John, and will do anything to get him out of his life.

Sound cliche? It absolutely should be, and that's why Cyrus is sortof a movie miracle - it isn't cliche at all. In fact, this is a recurring theme in the movie. There are a multitude of situations that you feel like you know exactly what's coming, and yet the film excitingly steers the other way. It's a blast to watch, because you really don't know exactly what's coming, or how these extremely dysfunctional people are going to work out their problems.

Which leads me to the best part of the movie - the humanity. There is very little schtick in this picture. The people, the conversations, their relationships, they all feel so REAL. And that's what turns this little indie pic from an oddball comedy into a compelling and emotionally satisfying human examination. It's that sense of realism, that sense that you're not watching actors reenact some of the most awkward moments in film history, but that you're watching real people fight the disfunction of their lives.

There is true, raw emotion in this film, and it is conducted brilliantly in the hands of the three leads, most surprisingly Jonah Hill. In Superbad, Jonah Hill was funny as hell. And he still is in Cyrys; but he conveys a sense of true acting profession in this film, and in a year where this film came out late in the year and there were few popular supporting performances, an Oscar nomination would not be far fetched.

Cyrus is an absolute must-see movie. It's hilarious and painfully awkward, but as I said before, contains a rough, emotional heart. Despite its flaws, it's a truly magical film - one that always seems like it's ready to go over the top, but never does; one that tries to make you laugh, but may make you cry. If that isn't a good enough description of the world we live in, then I don't know what is.

9 /10