Cyrus (2010) - Drama

What do you do when you come across a movie with John C Reilly, Jonah Hill and Cute Marisa Tomei in one movie? You do nothing but get a DVD and watch it as you are sure – you’re going to love it – come what may as these guys have played so many characters in the past that we all loved big time. In the recent times - I haven’t still forgotten John in “Carnage”, neither I can even forget Marisa in “The Wrestler” or Jonah from “Superbad” or “Moneyball” to say the least about these guys. This one turns out to be quite a good movie to watch as they all almost play themselves even in the movie. This one too had the backing of great Scott brothers and I was shocked to see the simplicity behind it all. It actually feels like someone picked up a decent hand held camera and shot the whole movie in one go. Still its quite a decent watch and has those laugh out loud moments too. It did made me think hard about those characters too – they are so real life like and the handling is so damn good that I actually felt as if it was all happening in front of me rather than me watching a movie. Watch it – if you like simple movies out of everyday ordinary life. I totally liked it. 

John C Reilly & Marisa Tomei

The Movie: It’s a very simple story of a guy John (John C Reilly) separated from his wife Jamie (Catherine Keener) who stays right across the road from his place and how he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei) in a party he was forced to go by his Ex wife. He meets Molly’s son Cyrus (Jonah Hill) too and his life goes for a toss from falling in love again to breaking up – it all happens so fast and in such a good manner that you actually end up falling in love with him as well as other characters. Even the opening scene of the movie is hilarious as John is alone in his house masturbating and his ex wife walks in on him only to be shocked – later breaking his heart further with the news that she is getting married soon. He is forced to go a party with her where he comes across a lot of people who have no interest in him whatsoever till he meets Molly out of a sheer accident – even that scene is hilarious and they fall for each other in no time. Time and again both the leads – John Reilly and Marisa Tomei have shocked and impressed me big time in the roles they have played in so many movies. As I mentioned earlier – they are actually too good and convincing in their respective roles. Both fit in so well in their characters so much so that its hard to tell if they are acting or just sleep walking their daily lives on screen – I am amazed with Marisa specially even at this age – she is hitting 50 – looks so damn good.

Marisa Tomei

Story moves forward with John moving in Molly to her house and meets her talented son Cyrus who wants to be a musician and has already composed some songs – its fantastic to see him perform live in front of John – the music was too good – you’ve got to see that scene to believe it. Cyrus shares a special bond with his mother and is insecure of her past and present relationships hence he ends up screwing them all big time and you realize that’s the reason why she is still a single mother. He again tries to screw it up for John and Molly – what happens next is the rest of the movie. Another thing that I loved about this movie was its simplicity and the way its all shot. As other critics too pointed out – its too amateurish direction – even the camera work is so simple and subtle that all the time you feel like a guy with a handy cam shot it all – even those zoom ins and zoom outs are so life like as we do in all our handheld shot personal videos. The highlight of the movie is the performances by its cast, the three leads and even the support cast was too good. John plays his character so well that he feels like the guy next door yet so good still his life is screwed. I totally loved it and will recommend it to everyone as it will make you think hard, yet will make you smile and laugh out loud on their simplicity, honesty and hilarious situations – and a perfect subtle ending.