Cyrus

When I first heard about the film Cyrus, I thought it was a comedy.  Starring funny men John C. Reilly (Step Brothers, Cedar Rapids) and Jonah Hill (Superbad, Get Him to the Greek) as Cyrus, I went into it getting ready to chuckle.  John (Reilly) is a divorced man who has a hard time meeting women.  When he is invited to a party held by his ex wife and her new fiance, he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei; The Wrestler, Alfie), and after saving him from an embarrassing drunken, singing act in front of a crowd of people, they hit it off instantly.  After seeing each other several times, John wonders why Molly is always leaving in a hurry.  He decides to play detective by hiding in front of her house all night until she makes an appearance.  At this point in the movie, I still haven't laughed because I was too busy feeling sorry for him and thinking he was creepy.  Upon waking up in his car the next morning, he still sees no sign of Molly.  Again, playing detective he creeps around her bushes only to run into Cyrus.  This is where he finds out that Cyrus is Molly's son.  From here, the awkward first meeting takes place.  And then of course the story goes from here, the weird 22 year old still living with his mother tries to sabotage her relationship with her boyfriend our of spite and jealousy. (10 points to whomever can name the "Grease." song I just quoted!)  

The relationship, however, between Cyrus and Molly is very awkward that its funny.  Nowadays, living with your parents in your 20s isn't weird at all. What makes this relationship different is that Cyrus refers to his mother as Molly, not out of disrespect, but out of love, and he still lives with her because, as he states, they are best friends.  The awkward relationship is what made the movie funny.  In one scene, Cyrus nonchalantly uses the restroom as his mom is in the shower.  When John sleeps over and tries to close the door as him and Molly change, she states that they never close doors.  There's also a scene where Molly is cutting up Cyrus' food for him.  The constant war between the two men for Molly's attention is a little funny too.

What makes this film sad is the extremes Cyrus goes to end his mother's relationship with John.  He doesn't pull any pranks (except steal John's shoes, which was really weird) or go to hilarious extremes.  He simply offers to move out.  This isn't slapstick comedy, like Home Alone or Problem Child (R.I.P. John Ritter ;( )It was just really sad. The fight between John and Cyrus at John's ex wife's wedding wasn't even funny, it was also kind of sad. Cyrus was succeeding at tearing John and Molly apart, and he wasn't even being funny about it.

I'm not trying to say this wasn't a good movie, it just wasn't what I expected.  I guess when you put two comedic actors in a film you expect something completely different.  I do appreciate Reilly and Hill trying something different without completely losing their edge.  If you want to see this, go ahead, just don't expect to laugh throughout the entire movie.  I felt bad for John's character just as I felt bad for his character in "Chicago", and I also didn't like Hill's character in this film, for which I think the directors (Jay and Mark Duplass; The Puffy Chair) were going.  The only thing that was never mentioned was Cyrus' father.  Molly mentions that a guy hasn't slept over since Cyrus was born making viewers think his father hasn't been in the picture from the beginning, and an absent father is a good explanation for his relationship with his mother.  So that's the only thing that bothered me.  So yeah this film is, okay I guess, not great but not bad either.  It doesn't make you laugh, but it doesn't make you cry.  It kinda just makes you say "huh, that's awkward".