Boyfriend vs. Son

Remove the first 20 or so minutes and Jay and Mark Duplass‘s Cyrus could be called a mature, somewhat comedic and satisfying handling of an unusual romantic triangle situation — 40ish love-starved guy (John C. Reilly), 40ish mom (Marisa Tomei) and quietly psychotic fat-ass son ( Jonah Hill). It’s “funny” here and there but mostly it’s just believable, buyable and emotionally even-steven. A truly welcome surprise.

In the hands of Adam McKay or Shawn Levy or any of the other big-studio whores who are always directing expensive Eloi comedies,Cyrus would have been a Joe Popcorn animal-bullshit torture chamber movie like Stepbrothers, in which Reilly costarred with Will Ferrell. But it’s something else with the Duplass brothers running the show. It’s quietly absorbing and occasionally hilarious, and made all the better by superb acting.

But those first 20 or so minutes are very weird. For during this period Cyrus plays like it was directed by McKay or Levy. Reilly behaves so over-the-top needy and neurotic and boorish and lacking in social skills that I was ready to leave. “I really don’t want to hang with this asshole,” I was saying to myself. I was just about to bolt when all of a sudden Reilly hooked up with Tomei, went home with her, fell in love and turned into a different person.

It plays as if the Duplass brothers suddenly changed their minds about Reilly’s character and decided to go with a much calmer and more emotionally secure vibe. It’s almost as if they sat down and said “we need to get the animals to see this so let’s make an animal comedy straight out of the Will Ferrell loser file so the Fox Searchlight trailer guys can sell this portion, and then turn around and make Cyrus into a whole ‘nother bird — a movie aimed at a smarter crowd — about 20 or so minutes into the running time.”

37 thoughts on “Boyfriend vs. Son

  1. Christ why do you have to hang with these assholes, you’re watching a movie. How did you ever get through AMERICAN PSYCHO or THERE WILL BE BLOOD? Or were they fit enough that it was okay.

    Also are you really comparing Adam McKay to Shawn Levy? STEPBROTHERS is too demented and uneven, but ANCHORMAN and TALLADEGA NIGHTS are very solid and funny.

    and joe banks, from the trailer it would appear Jonah Hill has a scene without pants.

  2. Stepbrothers is great. The scene with the family singing “Sweet Child O’ Mine” in the minivan alone makes it worth watching.

  3. The bunk beds falling down is old, the three stooges did it. I guess no scene like the opening one in Before the Devil knows you’re dead?

  4. Do you mean ‘whole other’? Because you can’t do ‘whole ‘nother’. See, ‘a whole another’ wouldn’t make any sense.

  5. Wait a second, hold on, time-out. Are you fucking telling me Marisa Tomei plays Jonah Hill’s mom? This agression will not stand, man!

  6. >Christ why do you have to hang with these assholes, you’re watching a movie. How did you ever get through AMERICAN PSYCHO or THERE WILL BE BLOOD? Or were they fit enough that it was okay.

    In a sense, watching a movie starring a certain character *is* “hanging” with them, at least for 2 hours or so. Also, serial killers and misanthropes can still be pleasant company, cinematically spekaing. Hell, Joe Pesci in Goodfellas is one of my favorite characters to spend time with, but in real life if I saw him coming I’d run the other way.

  7. Step Brothers is great, not as great as Anchorman but great.

    DeeZee, thinking it starts to take itself seriously at any point is pretty funny.

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  9. I am a huge fan of Will Ferrell and I absolutely love the Stepbrothers movie. I this that Ferrell is one of the best comedians of these days, he is great actor!

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  11. I am a huge fan of Will Ferrell and I absolutely love the Stepbrothers movie. I this that Ferrell is one of the best comedians of these days, he is great actor!

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