SXSW: Geekscape Reviews Cyrus
Cyrus is a film that has gained a surprising and impressive amount of interest, considering the small scope of the film. You may have heard about it after it screened at Sundance or you may be one of the few that was already familiar with the Duplass brothers and were interested in their first studio film (Cyrus was actually backed by Ridley and Tony Scott). Jay and Mark Duplass have been slowly making a name for themselves for the better part of the last decade making ultra low budget and extremely personal films. They actually kick started a small and short lived movement called “mumblecore” with their festival hit Puffy Chair. The term is derived from the fact that the films are shot in an ultra-realistic manner with lots of improv, which led to characters speaking naturally and mumbling like people tend to do. A strange designation to be sure, but the branding of the Duplass style did wonders for drawing attention to their small films.
Cyrus, which stars John C Reilly and Jonah Hill, maintains the general feel of the Duplass’ early work but is by far the broadest comedy they’ve done. Hill plays the titular character who is threatened when Reilly starts dating his mother, played by Marisa Tomei. Cyrus and his mom have a strangely close relationship that is never described in any detail. They leave their bedroom doors open, Cyrus walks in on his mother in the shower and they both react as if it’s the most natural thing in the world, there are pictures of Cryus breast feeding way past the age when that is acceptable. These oddities give Reilly pause but his desperation after having been single for years after his divorce pushes him to pursue the relationship anyway.
The early character work that Reilly does in the film is great. He plays a complete sad sack but not a guy you look down on. He’s a smart, funny guy who just hasn’t been able to move on after his previous relationship fell apart. He is actually best friends with his ex-wife (Katherine Keener). It is in these early, character building moments that Cyrus most resembles the incredibly natural feel of mumblecore, but that starts to fade a bit once Reilly and Hill go to war over the affections of Tomei. At this point the movie crosses over into “Step-Brothers” territory and it is a weird fit at times.
Hill is mostly to blame for this not entirely working. I think he is a gifted comic actor and have loved his Apatow-related work, but he struggles a bit with the subtlety of Cryus. It’s not a terrible performance at all, and as his first subdued and dramatic role it is somewhat admirable but he still has a long way to go. The relationship between Reilly and Tomei was another sticking point in the movie. It is a love at first sight situation, which I struggle with in general but which is made even worse by the fact that Tomei is beautiful and Reilly, who self describes himself in the film as “shrek” like, is not a looker and spends his first scenes talking about how depressed he is while getting hammered at a party. It was just a big leap for me to believe that Tomei would instantly be attracted to this guy. I felt he needed to earn it a bit more. Over time the relationship became convincing because you could see his charm and good nature, but the initial attraction doesn’t work.
Those complaints aside, though, Cyrus is an impressive transitional film for the Duplass brothers. They are rapidly rising (they have a hand in several features at South By Southwest this year) and may very well take over the Apatow role in the coming years. It is more conventional than the work that got them here but it maintains a more natural and intimate feel than you will find in any other mainstream comedy. They also layer in very interesting themes of dependency, while also building ambiguous and unique relationships that really set the film apart.
Cyrus will be released on July 9th in select cities.
