Cyrus

Cyrus is a very good independent comedy and has an exceptional cast along with an up and coming directing team. The movie's cast consists of John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, and Jonah Hill. Each one is exceptional in their respective role and the directing team of Jay and Mark Duplass are able to take these performances and make a very touching comedy. Reilly and Hill are the heart and soul of this movie and each gives an effectively awkward performances and this is great because each of their characters are supposed to be really awkward.

The plot follows a man in his forties who is recently divorced and is just working the courage up to start going out again. He meets Tomei's character and he starts to develop a relationship with her and soon finds out that he son lives with her. Her son is in his mid twenties and is a little odd to say the least. The son, played by Hill, is a musician who puts together extremely odd house music and a lot of his resentment towards Reilly stems from him not wanting to "lose" his mother. The movie then becomes a cat and mouse game between Hill and Reilly to see which one will blink and bail out of the situation and let the other receive the affection of Tomei.

Reilly and Hill are the factors that really allow this movie to flourish and not be a crappy little independent comedy. Hill really shows that he can actually act in this movie instead of just being the funny fat guy in a mediocre comedy. He shows that he actually has some impressive dramatic acting ability and can carry a movie on his performance alone. He plays a character who is just starting to come into his own as a man and is trying to hold on to what he knows while trying to grow as a person at the same time. Reilly on the other hand is a proven actor and has shown that he can carry a movie on his performance no matter what the style of movie. He plays a man who is trying to rediscover who he is and regain confidence that he lost after his divorce. Reilly is able to make his character extremely likable because almost every man watching the movie could potentially be in his situation at some point in their life. His character is just trying to be the best man that he can be and he puts himself fully into his relationship with Tomei and gives it 100% even if it doesn't work out.

I really did enjoy this movie mainly because I am a fan of Tomei and Reilly. Hill is hit and miss for me and I only like a handful of movie that he has been in. He is usually the worst part of the movies that he has been in, in my personal opinion. The Duplass Brothers are also a solid directing and writing team, they bring a special insight into developing their characters over the course of the movie. Mark Duplass is also a main character on my favorite TV show, The League, which is why I decided to see this movie in the first place. This is not a movie for everyone, it is a slow build throughout the course of the movie and has some very sarcastic humor. But overall, I can tell you that I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes a good comedy. Overall this movie deserves a , 7.5/10.