Theodore Melfi’s St. Vincent, his first full-length feature film, is a movie I liked a little more than I did. Unfortunately, though it did it better than many of its predecessors, it follows a very familiar been there, done that approach. It’s no wonder that, despite some great performances (especially from its lead), it got lost in the shuffle and ultimately got shut out from any Academy Award nominations. There is only so much you can do with portraying a down-and-out lead character who hits rock bottom and then has to fight to be again. In some flicks, we see these characters have bottomed before the movie begins (Crazy Heart, The Dark Knight Rises), and in others, the characters hit rock bottom throughout the film (The Wrestler, Shame, Leaving Las Vegas). St. Vincent is more like the latter, and while some might like it better, it came nowhere close to any of the five movies I mentioned in the previous sentence. While Bill Murray (Groundhog Day, Lost in Translation) gave his best lead performance in over a decade, the film offered nothing I hadn’t seen before, and I liked the avenues each of the five movies mentioned earlier explored.
But none of what I mentioned above means that I didn’t like St. Vincent. I did enjoy it. I didn’t love it. Some people were bummed that Murray didn’t get an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, but forget about the top five performances of the year; this performance fell outside the top 10. While it was his best work since Lost in Translation, there were quite a few lead actor performances in 2014, even if the overall movies of that year were not that great as a whole. With that said, without Murray’s performance, this movie doesn’t get lost in translation; it just gets lost in the shuffle. He makes it work, and I’m guessing this role was very easy for him and a lot of fun. He’s an alcoholic gambler with no real friends to call his own. He fulfills his sexual needs with a pregnant Russian prostitute named Daka (Naomi Watts – King Kong, The Impossible). He has no money to his name. When he goes to close his account at his bank, he learns that he owes them money. You’d think he would have reached his low here, but no.
New neighbors Maggie (Melissa McCarthy – Bridesmaids, The Heat) and her son Oliver (newcomer Jaeden Lieberher) move next door to Vincent. They do so with a bang (literally walking him from his drunken slumber) as their moving truck crashes into a tree that sends a thick branch into his car. Vincent wasn’t exactly understanding, and it further develops the idea, very early in the film, that he doesn’t have many redeemable qualities. Soon, Vincent and Oliver develop a relationship. In reality, Vincent becomes a babysitter after school when Maggie has to work overtime at her new job. The war veteran Vincent has no credentials as a sitter. Soon, the adult and the child are at the racetrack, bars, and other places where a 12-year-old shouldn’t be. Oliver is such a likable kid, while Vincent is just a wretched older man.
Vincent and Oliver develop something more than acquaintanceship, but not a friendship. Maggie is uncertain about Vincent. However, he seems to have good traits that outweigh his problems.
Without saying much more, we know where this movie is heading. Ultimately, it is one of those movies worth seeing, but it won’t stick with you, and you’ll probably have no desire to see it again, though it was an excellent first effort from Melfi. All five movies I referenced in the first paragraph of this review do this storyline much better than St. Vincent does.
C+
Plot 8/10
Character Development 8/10
Character Chemistry 8/10
Acting 8.5/10
Screenplay 7.5/10
Directing 8/10
Cinematography 7.5/10
Sound 7.5/10
Hook and Reel 8/10
Universal Relevance 8/10
79%
Movies You Might Like If You Liked This Movie
- Rushmore
- As Good As It Gets
- Lost in Translation
- About Schmidt
- The Upside of Anger