Netflix Friday: Cyrus

 
When Anthony and I were in Baltimore last June for his birthday, we went to a movie theater near the harbor, joining all of the locals to see Get Him To The Greek on a Friday night. It was such a low-key non-touristy thing to do, exactly what I like doing in new cities.  While we waited for the show to start, there was a television in the lobby with a running loop of coming attractions.  It was there we first saw the preview for Cyrus, starring John C. Reilly, Marissa Tomei and Jonah Hill.  The clips were funny yet serious, and I knew that this was my kind of movie. 

Flash forward a year later, and Cyrus was sitting next to our television in a Netflix envelope.  We watched it around midnight on Friday night while we were both wide awake for some reason.  Cyrus is a quiet movie, but it really felt full of life and kept us interested until the end.  It just feels like there is just some cameraman following these people around as they go about their routines, kind of the same feel I got from Margot at the Wedding or Please Give.  There were several points when I was uncomfortable, but still amused.  And overall, I loved that things were messy and mostly unresolved at the end. 

I was really impressed with the acting, too.  Marissa Tomei is obviously a talent but I think it was brave to cast John C. Reilly in this leading role in which he excelled (there was even a funny part that mocked his clown-like hair) and to give Jonah Hill such a serious part which is opposite of so many of the other characters he plays (personally, I still think his small role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall as a pot-dealing, obsessed restaurant host is the best).  His "Cyrus" was manipulative and conniving but I still felt for him.  The subtle humor of the character made me laugh aloud at several points and I don't think that would have happened if someone else had been cast. 

It took a while to finally see it but once we did, Anthony and I really enjoyed Cyrus.  Has anyone else seen it?  Thoughts?

P.S. Two weeks ago, we watched another Netflix movie and had very different results.  Now, I love Ben Stiller (I even sat through the awful The Heartbreak Kid for him) but I thought Greenberg was pretty horrible.  I was so disappointed by how much I didn't like it.  I was able to watch until the end though, which I guess is something.  I've yet to find another person who's seen it though, so if you have, let me know what you thought.