The Kidd Vs. Cyrus

The Kidd Vs. Cyrus

CAUTION: SPOILERS AHEAD

You can absolutely believe the hype, because CYRUS is truly a funny movie. It is dark. It is twisted. It is extremely fucked-up, and those are some of its best qualities. However, temper your expectations, because, if you’re expecting a laugh out loud, roll on the floor, pee your pants while you’re doubled over comedy riot, you’re not going to get it. But that speaks to the brand of humor that the Duplass brothers have put together for CYRUS. It’s all about subtlety and the performances. This isn’t slapstick hilarity. This is soft spoken funny, and it works extremely well with the cast of characters that make up CYRUS.

The movie starts with John C. Reilly jerking off… not in some crude AMERICAN PIE way, but as a way to grab your attention right from the start. This is probably the most enjoyment Reilly’s John gets to experience on any given day. John’s life has been in a lonely, depressed funk for 7 years, since his ex-wife left him, and now she’s getting married. While they’ve remained close friends over that time, it’s still a shock to John once this moment finally arrives, and you can’t help but feel bad for the guy. Reilly has portrayed the lovable loser for us so many times before, and we’ve grown accustomed to seeing him in that socially awkward, painful to watch role, yet it makes no difference that his role in CYRUS is all too familiar, because he pulls it off so well. Here, Reilly is pushed into a quick recovery by his ex-wife (played by Catherine Keener) and her new husband Tim (Matt Walsh – the hospital doctor from THE HANGOVER). They want him to come out to a party, and hopefully meet someone. They want John to take an active role in trying to turn his life around and regaining some of the happiness he once felt.

As expected, things aren’t going too well, with John getting shot down by everyone in attendance from the hot Asian having some conversation with others to the not-too-attractive girl on the couch who would rather go make a phone call than listen to the misery that is John’s life. It isn’t until a chance encounter with Molly (the always beautiful Marisa Tomei) while he’s taken a drunken leak in the bushes that things start to look up for John. She respects his unwavering honesty and openness, not to mention his fun-loving attitude as displayed by his desire to turn this mellow gathering into a full-on dance party once he hears Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me.” One thing leads to another… some sex happens… and CYRUS is off and running.

From there, as John begins to fall quickly for Molly, and vice versa, he starts to wonder why she’s always leaving suddenly after they spend time together, and upon following her home, learns that she has a 21-year-old son named Cyrus (Jonah Hill). However, this isn’t your run-of-the-mill kid. This is the type of intense guy who wants to know who you are, not what you do, all while stealing your shoes as he creates new age techno synth-pop in the living room. Molly isn’t Mom to him, as their relationship has grown into more of a friendship than a parenting arrangement. and he’ll be damned if some curly-headed Shrek-like guy is going to come in and take Molly away from him.

Marisa Tomei is really understated here as the clueless oblivious in-denial mother here, as it’s the subtleties of her bizarre relationship with Cyrus that make for her best moments – the photo of her breast-feeding her son until he was a grown boy, the fact that he walks into the bathroom while she’s showering as if it’s no big deal, the open-door policy that remains in the house. None of these aspects are played up for any type of gross-out humor, as they serve to establish the special tie that exists in this mother/son relationship. But Tomei’s value comes with her ability to convince you that Molly and John are perfect for each other. Sure, physically you might look at such a couple and say “No way,” but it’s how well their personalities mesh and how well they interact and, once again, the subtleties of their talks that easily lead you to the conclusion that these are 2 people who just fit together, and that’s an important step in what makes Cyrus so effective.

From there, the movie is absolutely carried by John C. Reilly, who never gets enough credit as an actor, even though each performance of his in every movie is consistently solid, and, to a lesser degree, Jonah Hill as his foil. The stakes for John’s happiness are set, which makes the looming showdown between John and Cyrus all the more intriguing. There is no in-your-face delivery here with each guy pulling out all the stops in order to defeat the other. There are no booby traps. No pranks. No HOME ALONE-style contrived assaults. It’s all subtlety. Their hatred for one another peeks out in a look or a gesture or an innocent comment as CYRUS burns slowly towards what will be an explosion between characters, because clearly this relationship isn’t big enough for the both of them.

The script, written by Jay and Mark Duplass, is extremely witty and well-crafted. There aren’t any grand monologues or contrived dialogue put together at any point for these characters. The strength of CYRUS is the belief that these very well could be real people engaged in a very real situation, and their authenticity is what makes the film so damn good. The only issue I had with the movie was the camera work of the Duplass brothers, who insisted on camera movement for the sake of not always having a stationary view of this world. They continued to use this rapid and random zoom technique that proved to be more distracting at times than visually interesting, which is a shame, because every so often I’d get taken out of the story for a few seconds, wondering what the hell is going on and if there was something special I should not be looking at. But other than that nitpick, I can’t say that I have much else to complain about regarding CYRUS.

CYRUS is the type of movie you’ll find yourself watching with a smile on your face, because you enjoy spending time with these characters. You want John to find happiness, to experience love again, especially considering the emotional baggage he so freely volunteers. He bears his soul so easily, and, in doing so, you’re able to feel for how vulnerable this character is. You want him to get that happy ending the he deserves. You want Cyrus to get what he has coming to him, but, at the same time, you don’t feel anger or hostility towards him. If anything, he gets your pity and your sorrow, because you get the sense he doesn’t know any better. He doesn’t understand what he’s doing is wrong, because this is all he’s ever known, and he’s never been taught differently. CYRUS isn’t a movie that tells its story in black and white. There’s a lot of complexity and a lot of grey area to be explored, and it’s all done with brilliant subtlety that you almost wish the film were longer, so you could experience more time living with these characters to see where things go next.

I really liked CYRUS, and, if you enjoy quality films, this is one you should definitely check out. Because it’s a smaller film without a great deal of publicity, it won’t play to packed theatres with screaming fans sporting their 3-D glasses. And that’s a shame, because a great deal of people won’t take the chance to see something different, opting instead to piss away their time and money on something like THE LAST AIRBENDER. If you don’t care about what you’re seeing, then go right ahead and see whatever it is that you want. But, if you want to see something good, something that will challenge you, something unique, then definitely go see CYRUS. It’s really subtlly that good.

Tags: cyrus • john c. reilly • jonah hill • movie reviews • The Kidd Vs