Sundance Review: CYRUS

Jay and Mark Duplass are pretty much what you would consider Sundance royalty. These guys always show out here because they do incredible work and this year is no different. When I heard that Fox Searchlight was backing these guys for a studio flick that they would write and direct starring the likes of Jonah Hill, John C. Reilly, and Marisa Tomei… there is no way this movie wouldn’t be hit.

I missed the premiere screening of the film, but was lucky to snag a seat in the press screening today. I thought with a cast like this we would get your typical comedy that Reilly or Hill wouldn’t typically star in…I was wrong. The Duplass Brothers have sculpted a super awkward, but seriously funny film about life, growing and moving forward.

John (Reilly) is a divorced guy in his late 30’s, early 40’s who is still struggling to get over his ex wife (Catherine Keener) and move on. She convinces him to attend a party with her and her new fiance to help him meet some prospects. He unsuccessfully talks to a couple of women at the party only to be shot down.

Through a series of events he runs into Molly (Tomei) who quickly develops a little crush on him. They flirt it up at the party and eventually hook up. After a couple of dates John realizes that Molly has a son, Cyrus (Hill), that still lives with her. Molly and Cyrus don’t have your typical mother/son relationship which John quickly realizes. Cyrus seems to have some mommy issues and Molly cant seem to let go.

There is a lot more than I can go into about Cyrus, but lets just say that he creates some issues for John and Molly. Wow… I kept that mostly spoiler free.

Jay and Mark Duplass do an amazing job of combining laugh out loud comedy that is infused with some pretty real drama. The really great quality is that they didn’t go for a polished “big studio look” with the way the film was shot. They stuck to their roots and shot it like they have previously done with BAGHEAD and THE PUFFY CHAIR which excited the hell out of me. CYRUS is a big studio film with an indie heart and the two exist to perfection.

Jonah Hill gives a pretty outstanding performance as the title character. He showed quite a bit of range and proves that he can definitely do more than just raunchy comedy. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in a full blown drama in the near future. John C. Reilly is also incredible in the movie. He is just as funny as he always is, but he also tosses in some of the straight faced non-comedic elements that we have all come to love from MAGNOLIA and BOOGIE NIGHTS.

Everyone in the film does an incredible job, delivering very convincing performances. The Duplass Brothers definitely know how to pull characters out of actors, and I had no doubt they would do the same with all of the huge names they had attached here. There isn’t much you can say that is negative about the film… its pretty much perfect.

Overall Rating: 5 out of 5