St. Vincent Review part 1
Feel good movie of the year!
Well, not really at least for most of it. In fact large swaths of it will bum you out like a fire at an anti-depressant and super soft bunny factory. This is not the movie to see while on an alcohol bender or having been miserable, single, and bitter for a few years and bitching about it incessantly in your nerd blog (dodged that bullet).
However not every movie has to draw a smiley face on your spelling test and give you a gold star for the achievement of not breaking your hip falling out of bed this morning. Life is hard and it’s OK to show us a movie that reflects that once in a while if only to give all the happy happy joy joy movies some contrast. And I’m not saying that St. Vincent is totally a bummer. If watching a irascible old man drink, whore, smoke, cheat, steal, and gamble his life away while secretly having a heart of gold (well, silver or perhaps silver-ish. There might be some copper in there too. Coppers good, right? Very useful in electronics) and bond with the wimpy kid next door this movie will work for you.
I am of course a huge Bill Murray fan and love him in any role. Like the late great Robin Williams he is known for his comedy but honestly really shows his talents when doing a serious role. The writing on this film was top notch with a special gold star for the dialog which was brilliant.
Most times a kid in a movie (even kids movies) is the first sound of the suck train leaving the station but this kid Jaeden Lieberher did the impossible for me: he managed to really entertain and engage me while not giving my suspended a disbelief a nose bleed. 
Kids in films tend to suck because they just don’t have the acting chops and you can’t take a serious situation with appropriate seriousness knowing Hollywood would never let a kid die or have anything really bad happen to him or her. Kids always feel fake and out of place and destroy any gravitas a film might have had like a rodeo clown Photoshopped into DaVinci’s Last Supper (I’m looking at you, 8 year old Anakin Skywalker. Image comes from the many Star Wars t-shirts I have in my collection)
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St. Vincent Review part 2
Not to say this film is in all ways brilliant. Pacing dragged at points (it certainly felt a lot longer than a mere 102 minutes) and the supporting pregnant hooker Daka (Naomi Watts) tended to dominate every scene she was in and had a very thick layer of unrealism about her. The director seemed to have a thing for accents as she had a thick Russian one and Bill Murray had a Brooklyn accent that felt just off enough to be annoying (probably my West Coast bias, but my mom is from Brooklyn so I grew up with that accent and Bill’s didn’t quite nail it). I seem to be using the word misogyny a lot in my reviews later but the dominating secondary story about a Russian hooker who has to quit her job because she is pregnant is not going to inspire the next modern Belva Lockwood (look it up). The story tends to meander from set piece to set piece without much guidance from the overriding story arc.
But those are mere piffles on an otherwise fun and well executed movie. Melissa McCarthy took all the serious, non comedy work she did in her last comedy Tammy and nailed a great single working mom performance. The kid was great too and Bill Murray his usual brilliant self. Chris O’Dowd was very fun as the priest. The best part of this film was the dialog and you can really feel yourself pulled out of the theater into a fly on the wall of a grumpy old man’s interesting life (kind of like a less scripted reality TV show).
Quick movie recap: Vincent (Bill Murray) is a broken husk of an old man who spends his time drinking, smoking, sleeping with pregnant prostitutes, and gambling at the race track. He wakes up one morning to find a moving van wrecking his tree and thus does he meet his new neighbor Maggie (Melissa McCarthy) and her son Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher). Maggie and Oliver just moved to Brooklyn to get away from her cheating ex husband. Vincent takes an immediate dislike to both of them but later on she has to pay him to watch Oliver after school.
At that point the bonding begins a la Mr. Miyagi and Daniel-san (only with more alcohol. Image courtesy of the Karate Kid t shirt category). Vincent teaches Oliver how to box an Exacta, drink in a bar, and deal with crazy pregnant Russian strippers (I felt a kinship on the Exacta thing as the only two games my father ever taught me to play were chess and blackjack. I might not know thing one about baseball except it’s the game with the bats but I know what to do on a 12 when the dealer is showing a face card). Oliver’s father surfaces to cause trouble and uses Vincent as an example of Maggies unfit mothering. Meanwhile Vincent has a heartwarming secret but at the same time owes a bookie lots of money. Things go up and down, people get sick, and lots of other stuff happens.
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St. Vincent Review part 3
So should you see this film? Yes, yes you should. I can highly recommend it. 
In a world full of explosions and giant robots it is a true character study (image courtesy of the Transformers t shirt category). A very rare egg indeed. If you rate your movies by how many cars get wrecked and arms get broken accompanied by the sound of celery being bent odds are you will not want to see it but I say to you, sir, that this film experience is even more valuable. See what happens when characters are not armed and hardly ever fight. However for you there is a scene where Vincent teaches Oliver to fight a bully with hilarious results and another scene where Vincent gets drunk, slips on some ice, and ends up unconscious on the kitchen floor that you should find hilarious.
4.5 of 5! Really good.
I’m even going to rate this one a good date movie BTW. It’s got enough touchy feely stuff to keep her engaged while being funny enough to keep you happy. Plus seeing Bill Murray in a good film will soften the blow for when he finally capitulates and does Ghostbusters III. Is there even the slightest chance that film will do anything other than suck? If you believe so contact me immediately as I have some Nevada beachfront property and a big bridge I’d like to discuss with you. 4.5 of 5 Phasers.
Incidentally let me know if you like these shorter, more broken up reviews. I actually find them easier to read. Those big ones I used to do could get ponderous and I like to think I still keep my rapier like wit and manage to retain more of my day to engage in my rock ‘n roll party lifestyle. Thanks and have a great day.
the Infamous Dave Inman
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