7/1/10

Cyrus

My first reaction when I saw the overview for this film was to reject it, then I read some reviews that praised it highly, so I reconsidered... I think I was right the first time!

Cyrus is a 20-year-old child raised and home-schooled by a single mother. He is played by Jonah Hill ("Get Him to the Greek"), while the mother is played by Marisa Tomei ("The Wrestler"). Their relationship is intensely enmeshed, with icky Oedipal overtones.

John C. Reilly ("The Extra Man") is a long-time (seven years) divorced fellow who can't seem to get out of his rut. When his ex-wife, played by Catherine Keener ("Please Give") drops by to invite him to her up- coming wedding, his rut becomes a quagmire, so she insists he change his clothes and come to a party...whereupon he meets and falls for Ms. Tomei, who seems to respond.

The son quickly shows us, and Mr. Reilly, that his is the epitome of pas- sive aggression. Of course, his mother can't see this at all, which puts Mr. R in an extremely awkward position.

This is billed as a comedy, which it isn't; nor is it a tragedy or a musical, so I guess we'll call it a drama. We couldn't guess the writer/director Duplass brother's intended audience... Some of the screening crowd applauded, even though many of us felt uncomfortable. On the other hand, I saw it at a Landmark theater in Seattle, so the popcorn was freshly popped and THAT I enjoyed immensely.