#25 Cyrus
"Come on, man--you really just popped a wine cork into an urn of cremated ashes?"
"Don't tell me that fire is spreading and that--oh, yep, that ingrate just burned down the altar that Owen Wilson spent several days creating in his woodshop. Nice job, idiot."
-Are a couple of the things that ran through my head the first time I saw Meet the Parents. That, to me, is still probably the most uncomfortable piece of cinema I've ever seen. I get the whole idea, all right? Deniro is a psycho, and it's always a nerve-wracking experience to meet your in-laws, but much more so if you're a male nurse who carries out several ill-advised schemes at your fiancee's childhood home.
I mention Meet the Parents because Cyrus is also cringe-worthy and painfully awkward at times. The difference is, the mayhem stops when it's supposed to.
Cyrus follows John (John C. Reilly), a lovable loser who still gets unannounced pop-ins from his ex-wife (Catherine Keener). When she invites him to a party in an attempt to get him out of his recent, largely-caused-by-her-so-easily-moving-on funk, he gets hammered and completely bombs at talking to women. Until, while outside pissing in a bush, he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei). They bond over the lyrics to The Human Leagues "Don't You Want Me" (he belts it out to the party through a beer-bottle microphone), and take each other home. In the morning, she tries for the quick getaway. After what seems to be an okay resolution, she doesn't return his calls. It's not looking good for John, but it's not because she doesn't like him; it's because of her inappropriately close relationship with her 21-year old son, the titular man-child played by Jonah Hill.
He plays it cool at first. A few minutes after they meet, Cyrus plays John one of his electronica songs he has been working on, which is funny in and of itself, but hysterical because of the way he stares blankly at and thrusts slightly towards John. Eventually the jealous nutjob in Cyrus comes out, manifesting itself in things like shrieking "night terrors" when John spends the night. In the fight for Molly's love (Cyrus considers them close enough to not call her mom), Cyrus fights dirty as hell, and it of course brings out the meathead in John. Their interactions and threats to one another are great, and in fact, the whole cast is fun to watch. But no one is as talented and expressive as John C. Reilly. He's one of my current favorite actors because he's seamless in combining comedic and dramatic. I think he should have at the very least been in the discussion for an actor prize or two--he really seemed to get the vulnerability of his character. If you can stomach some awkward moments, it's worth seeing for Reilly at the top of his game.
#24 Despicable Me
In lieu of what's happening in my home town of Madison, Wisconsin, I think the best way to approach this write-up is to draw comparisons between Gru, the Steve Carell-voiced protagonist bent on taking over the world, and our new Governor, Scott Walker, whose recent actions can really only be described in one way: Despicable.
GRU WALKER
Hometown: Unknown Delavan, Wisconsin
Political Aspirations: World Domination Mass Evacuation of WI Residents
Campaign Contributors: Bank of Evil (Formerly Lehman Bros) Wal-Mart, US Oil Co. (not kidding)
Inventions/Weapons: Shrink Ray (for use on moon) Anti-Union Rhetoric
Job Title of Staff: Minions Minions
Achilles Heel: Love for Foster Daughters Little Debbie Zebra Cakes*
*As of press time, this fact was not fully confirmed
I don't want to get too deep into this; there's nothing I will say that hasn't already been said by tens of thousands of Wisconsites. I will say, however, there are many members of my family and friends that will be and HAVE BEEN directly affected by this looming legislation. People are very unhappy. My father will lose 10% or more of his teacher's salary. My step-parents are both State employees. My siblings haven't been able to go to school because their teachers aren't there. The city's best nurses (all unionized) are threatening to leave town if these laws are passed. I don't need to be scathing. I don't need to sling mud, or re-hash the obvious problems. Just for all of their sakes, all of the Madisonians and Milwaukeeans and the rest of the state residents, I hope Scott Walker really re-thinks what he's planning to do.
And now, onto Despicable Me.
The voice of Carrel's Gru in the film drove me insane for the first five minutes or so; it was as if he was trying to pull off Schwarzenegger without the muscle. But he settled into it, and from there I started to enjoy myself. Gru tries to secure a loan so that he can finance an operation to steal the moon. He's rejected, and from there he and his minions steal a shrink ray from a secret lab. But his arch-nemesis, the younger, more savvy Vector (voiced by Jason Segel), intercepts the plot, takes the ray, and shrinks his ship. Bummer.
He needs to get into Vector's lair and get his shrink ray back. He tries numerous hair-brained ideas with funny results--no luck. Finally he gets an idea. He and his assistant Nefario (Russell Brand) hatch a plan to sell Vector some girl scout cookies, only the cookie boxes will actually be robots. So now he needs the girl scouts. He goes to an orphanage, procures the girls and the outrageousness begins.
Gru's transformation from fiend to surrogate father is a slow and often funny one. At one point, he is trying to deliver one of those classic big-screen villain messages to his enemies, and the girls are jumping around asking for stuffed crust pizza, and he yells "I'll stuff YOU in the crust!". That one really got me. That and his minions, who are hundreds upon hundreds of yellow creatures (some with one eye, some with two) in overalls and goggles. They are the physical comedy of the film and they are hysterical to hear talk, some sort of hybrid between Fraggle Rock creatures and the Pillsbury Dough-Boy. Carell does a good job of executing Gru's character arc, and Jason Segel is a fun and aloof antagonist. The animation is good, the concept is original, and it's pretty damn funny.
Now if only we can get Governor Walker moving towards a change of heart...
I'm off on a mini-vacation to Duluth. Back to writing by Monday--a President's Day special!
Stand strong, Wisco. My thoughts are with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment