You can never
get enough of feel-good movies, and St. Vincent plays right to your
heart. It taps into the innocence of childhood and explores friendship in
unlikely places (how, as kids, we always seem to make friends even with people
we started off disliking).
St. Vincent isn’t
a movie for the whole family to watch—the frequent use of strong language makes
it inappropriate—but the love in the movie is abundant. To top it off, the cast
is phenomenal. The film is led by Bill Murray, who plays the grumpy,
foul-mouthed neighbor Vincent, and Melissa McCarthy, who plays the lovable
mother of Oliver and Vincent’s neighbor.
In supporting roles, we have Oliver, the innocent little boy who befriends the
grouch, and Naomi Watts, who plays the pregnant Russian prostitute and
Vincent’s mistress.
Every cast
member in the movie is memorable and lovable, right down to Vincent’s beautiful
wife and the loan shark played by Terence Howard.
St. Vincent showcases
Bill Murray at his best. It’s been a while since we’ve seen him deliver such a
powerful role, but here he delivers as a funny man who hides his sentimental
side from the world.
The movie starts
with an unflattering introduction to Vincent and builds up gently, introducing
one character at a time until we’re familiar with everyone and their role.
Then, director and writer Theodore Melfi (making his full-length debut with
this film) guides the story gently as we see a mother (Melissa McCarthy)
struggling to be there for her son, Oliver, and leaving him with her neighbor
to babysit.
Her neighbor,
Vincent, ends up being a bad influence on the child but takes care of him in
ways his mother never had the time to do. A friendship begins but ends abruptly
due to divorce issues with Oliver’s dad, resulting in a joint custody 50/50
judgment. A tragedy and a stroke bring the growing friendship to a halt.
Oliver, not
ready to say goodbye to his newfound friend, does everything he can to get back
on good terms with Vincent.
I guess that’s
it for me in the movie. We’re used to adults learning from their grumpy ways
and changing to meet their mentees halfway, but that doesn’t happen here.
Oliver has to come up with ways to meet Vincent halfway.
You have to see—or possibly own—this movie, as it’s a wonderful drama and I
believe you will also enjoy it as much as I did.
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