Cyrus

Jay and Mark Duplass are the brothers behind a number of well received short movies, but they find it a bit of a struggle to stretch their latest output into feature length entertainment. In addition you should be aware that the Duplass brothers have been labelled “mumblecore” in the past, and it’s safe to say this film won’t be for everyone due to the minimal dialogue and pedestrian pace. To be fair to the brothers though they at least get a bit of mileage out of the hardly original concept, that of a love triangle between mother, son and new man on the scene. Playing the respective parts are Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill and John C. Reilly. Reilly plays John, a divorcee who meets Molly (Tomei) and they get on great. However, John soon discovers that Molly has a son, the eponymous Cyrus, who isn’t at all happy that John is starting to come between himself and his mother. Mild shenanigans ensue. Reilly’s performance as a sad sack loser is hardly a push for him, but it’s his scenes with Hill where the film briefly sparks into life. Following Reilly’s performance from bemusement to confusion to anger as he discovers the increasingly odd relationship between Cyrus and Molly is fun to watch. Hill himself is hilarious at times, and a scene where he plays John his awful music and just stands there starting at him whilst doing it is very funny indeed. Having said that, if you’ve seen the trailer, you’ve already seen some of said scene already, and I can actually only recall one other scene that made me laugh that I hadn’t already seen in the trailer. Smart marketing to get the crowds in perhaps, but, unless you’re desperate to know how things turn out in the end, if you’ve seen the trailer for Cyrus, you’ve basically seen Cyrus.

The OC Film Sting Final Verdict
Looks out of place on the big screen, but, if you haven’t seen the trailer that is, there’s enough here (particularly the scenes between Reilly and Hill) to raise the occasional laugh. Rating: 5/10.