Cyrus

We attended the screening of Cyrus with high hopes but low expectations.  We’re pretty big fans of the film’s stars John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill, but the trailer left us with the feeling of “this movie looks like Step Brothers Part 2.” Luckily, we were way off.  Everything we thought we knew about the movie and everything that we expected (stupid one liners and an over-the-top prank war) was wide off the mark. As far as CFR is concerned, Cyrus is the sleeper hit of the summer.

John C. Reilly stars as John, a divorced, depressed, freelance editor who feels like he has no purpose left in life.  Early on in the film he meets the woman of his dreams, Molly (Marisa Tomei).  Then he meets her son… Cyrus.

Cyrus, played by Jonah Hill (who is also currently in Get Him To The Greek), is an awkward 21-year-old musician; he’s been home schooled his whole life and doesn’t have any friends outside of Molly. When he meets John, he starts some very uncomfortable (and very funny) conversations. John does his best to persevere through the conversations to show his appreciation for Molly and to not offend Cyrus.  That night, John sleeps over at Molly’s and in the morning his shoes are missing.  The film continues with more and more awkwardly funny scenarios to the point John knows Cyrus is trying to sabotage his relationship with Molly, but he can’t prove it… until he calls Cyrus out.

Personally, I love this type of humor. The more awkward something gets, the funnier it is.  Like I said above, we were blindsided by Cyrus.  The film just keeps getting better as it goes on. For the most part, the story is nothing more than an exploration of human relationships and how we, as humans, do some very messed up things for very stupid or selfish reasons.

The screening we attended also had a Q&A afterward with John C. Reilly. He said that although the film was scripted, they improvised every scene.  They really only used the script to get from point A to point B. When I say the film was improvised, I don’t mean joke by joke.  There is a lot of drama in Cyrus, and the improvisation adds to the deepness of the film. All of the emotions put forth in the film felt very raw and real.

Overall, Cyrus has made my list of favorite films and I cannot wait to see it in the theater again. If you have the chance to check it out, I highly recommend you do.  Cyrus opened in theaters yesterday, June 18.