Get St. Vincent

CUSTOMER REVIEW



I just walked out of the theater after seeing St. Vincent and I had to immediately write this review before driving home or doing anything because I thought it was so great. This was honestly one of the best movies I've seen this year.



St. Vincent focuses on Vincent (Bill Murray), a crotchety old man who's a drunk and owes money all over town. Vincent "employs" Daka, a pregnant prostitute played by Naomi Watts, and has new neighbors in the form of Maggie (Melissa McCarthy), a hardworking single mom, and her son Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher). When Oliver locks himself out of the house one day after school, he stays at Vincent's house until his mom gets home from work. Vincent is able to ferret this into a gig babysitting Oliver regularly after school while Maggie is at work. Vincent is a horrible influence, taking Oliver to bars and the race track and teaching him how to fight. Even though Vincent's character is so gruff and basically a lowlife, he's actually pretty lovable. Throughout the course of the movie, we get to discover that there's a bit more to Vincent than meets the eye, and he's not so bad, deep down inside.



While this movie was classified by most as a comedy, I would probably go so far as to call it a dramedy, even though I hate the term. It was pretty funny, but also had some touching and real moments, with more substance than a straight comedy typically has. The first half of the movie was hilarious, with me laughing hysterically at Murray's dark sense of humor and the inappropriateness of his character. Then for the last part of the movie, things became a bit more serious, and I was trying to keep from shedding a tear here and there. However, there were still plenty of funny parts to ease the tension and provide comic relief.



The acting in this movie was great, in my opinion. Vincent was cast perfectly, with Bill Murray being the perfect amount of snarky and rude while still being likable. Lieberher was a cute, yet sarcastic little kid, and I loved watching Oliver and Vincent's budding friendship. Naomi Watts was hilarious as the Russian beauty Daka. Chris O'Dowd played a priest at Oliver's school (probably the coolest priest I've ever met..), and his Bridesmaid costar Melissa McCarthy went in a totally different direction than I've seen her in lately. McCarthy's last few roles have been disappointing to me, as I feel like she's been typecast as the over-the-top, funny fat lady, when she's so much more than that. Her character here had more depth and reminded me that she can act, although I feel like this role didn't allow her to showcase how funny she can be when she doesn't have to be stuck in the same gruff dirtball role (because let's face it, while she was hilarious in Bridesmaids, she essentially was the same character in Identity Thief, The Heat, and Tammy).



Overall, a really touching, really funny movie.