CYRUS

Here we have another film where two less than handsome men (John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill) vie for the affection of a gorgeous woman (Marisa Tomei.)  In a recent New Yorker review of this film and Get Him to The Greek, both starring Mr. Hill, David Denby thanked Judd Apatow and his spawn for turning schlubs into leading men.  I’m glad he’s happy but I and many women like me aren’t thanking him.  I don’t fantasize about guys with their butt cracks showing, pot bellies and beer stained t-shirts nor do I need to watch them for an extended period of time.  Thank god for Netflix and Tyrone Power. 

Aside from Denby’s self serving remarks, this film from the Duplass brothers, Mark and Jay, only works because of the brilliant, putty faced, wiry haired of John C. Reilly.  John plays John, a self-loathing divorcee, living in a slovenly abode with days old pizza and beer bottles as company.   We are introduced to him when his ex wife Jamie (Catherine Keener) walks in on him “checking his email” with his hand down his pants. It’s such an “ewww” moment, you don’t even feel sorry for this guy.  Later as he stumbles around a party he somehow manages to charm Mollie (Marisa Tomei) into bed.

But surprise, she’s got a son named Cyrus (Jonah Hill), and he’s 21, and he still lives at home, and he still has night terrors.  Instead of giving up immediately, John decides to take up arms and battle for his woman, and of course the scenes with the two going head to head are priceless.   As expected John generally fails in the face of Cyrus’ manipulative passive aggressive rage.  It is nice, a relief of sorts to not see a bitch off: two girls fighting over some dope, but rather two dopes fighting over the babe.  All 3 are extremely flawed: John the self-pitying slob, Mollie the overindulgent boundary-less mother, and Cyrus, the all common man-child posing an interesting challenge for the audience.

The only problem with a film as arch as this one becomes how to end it.  Without spoiling it I’ll say that it wasn’t entirely satisfying, perhaps a bit too predictable.  But none of that takes away from some truly priceless comic and often cringe-inducing moments.  These kind of films specialize in taking audiences way out of their soothing comfort zone expectations about how films should make them feel.  It’s a shame that they almost always cave in instead of leaving us there, hanging in midair with that big icky question mark.

Cyrus is now playing.

Written and directed by Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass; produced by Michael Costigan; Director of Photography, Jas Shelton; edited by Jay Deuby; music by Michael Andrews.  Released by Fox Searchlight.  Running time: 92 minutes.

With: John C. Reilly (John); Cyrus (Jonah Hill); Molly (Marisa Tomei); Catherine Keener (Jamie); and Matt Walsh (Tim.)