St. Vincent

2014 "Love Thy Neighbor"
7.2| 1h42m| PG-13| en| More Info
Released: 24 October 2014 Released
Producted By: The Weinstein Company
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://stvincent-movie.com/
Synopsis

A young boy whose parents just divorced finds an unlikely friend and mentor in the misanthropic, bawdy, hedonistic, war veteran who lives next door.

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a_chinn A sappy and cliche filled story about a crabby old man who takes care of his quiet shy latchkey neighbor kid. Both learn life lessons from one another and both become better people for it. Oh, did I mention there's also a hooker with a heart of gold and there's also a single mother doing the best she can? Before you dismiss this formula story set-up, the grouchy old neighbor is played by Bill Murray, so that alone should be enough to make you want to give "St. Vincent" a chance. First time writer/director Theodore Melfi does deliver a story that's corny, cliched, and predictable (one medical emergency seemed particularly unnecessary, not adding anything to either character or plot), but despite the maudlin set-up and cookie cutter character tropes, the cast is incredibly strong, led by Murray as Vincent. He takes care of young Jaeden Lieberher, teaching him how to fight dirty, how to gamble, and how to get a bartender's attention, but it's Bill Murray teaching him these life lessons! So even though we've seen this tired formula a hundreds of times before, it's hilariously fun to watch with Murray playing the child-hating curmudgeon. How can you resist Bill driving around in his 1984 Chrysler Lebaron, gabling and drinking, and consorting with his Russian prostitute/girlfriend, Naomi Watts, all while taking care of a young child. As with these sorts of films (everything from "Little Miss Marker" to "Bad Santa"), Lieberher teaches Murray how to be kinder towards others and Lieberher learns how to stand up for himself. Lieberher's mom is played by Melissa McCarthy in what is surprisingly straight role, which is an inserting change of pace for the usually hilarious comedic actress and she's very good. Watts is also quite good in a primarily comedic part that could have easily slid into an annoyingly cliched character, but she elevates the material so that you genuinely care about her character. This's what the entire cast does for the film, elevating the cliches and making it worth watching. They may not be characters you'd want to actually spend time with in real-life, but they are characters you care about, are compelling to watch on-screen, and who you are rooting for. Overall, "St. Vincent" is not a great film, but the cast very nearly makes it such. Chris O'Dowd and Terrence Howard also appear in the film.
andras-ocskay I am happy to saw Bill Murray and Naoimi Watts. All the rest are good actors also! Story was interesting also. Dramaturg is good also, writer, director, and the crew. The end was a bit too american cheesy what took off my pleasure I expected sad ending and more drama. But its good for Hollywood. If it should be European or Asian movie, Inwould give 6 stars only;) 8 stars for Hollywood
Mikelikesnotlikes This film works for me because my believability meter never needed to be consulted throughout. It is a rare film these days that doesn't rely on CGI and triple back-flip plot twists to get them over the line. It is simple, honest story-telling at its best.This is a story about a VINCENT, a old man who has run out of options. So deep in denial, he blindly carries on with a slow suicide while ignoring the way his life is crumbling around him. He is completely broke, he can no longer afford to pay for the expensive care facility his wife resides at (she has dementia and doesn't even know who he is anymore), he owes a large gambling debt to a hoodlum, he drinks and smokes heavily and generally hates most of the world.His redeeming qualities are few and the film does not try to recreate him into the SAINT (from the title), which I really appreciated. This is not a Disney movie though I found the speech by Oliver a little bit too much. Something got in my eye about here.Vincent is forced to grabs the last lifeline left to him when his neighbours kid, Oliver, needs a sitter. Vincent uses the circumstances to extort money from the mother, Maggie, but as time passes he gets to know, and like, the kid. We can chose to see this as Vincent's true nature coming out, but enough of the old, bitter Vincent is still there to make for some very funny scenes.Perhaps there's not a great deal of substance in this film but I liked the way it was presented. No one had to be totally evil or totally good. It was about real people and real reactions. In this day and age of extremes, it actually felt fresh. All the wrongs weren't corrected or even apologised for. The ending lets us know that just having a life with even a tiny bit of meaning can be enough to make us happy.
Jona1988 St. Vincent is a great movie. It's funny comedy but also has a surprising emotional depth. I've always liked Bill Murray and also here. To be fair he plays the same character he usually does, but he does it so well. He's the bitter sarcastic jerk but who deep down is a good person. St. Vincent has many funny moments and dare I say all of them come from Murray, close to all. But this movie I would describe as kind of a dark comedy or maybe even little tragic comedy. Because the drama is actually most gripping. There is much more depth in the story than I was expecting. In the end the movie is of the feel good genre and so there are some cheesy moments. But it's not a problem as the movie is still not too predictable or overly sentimental. Newcomer Jaeden Lieberher does great. The character we the viewer should feel most sympathy for and one does. Usually I'm not a huge fan of Melissa McCarthy but here she fits her character perfect. Nothing of her slapstick overacting which is what I associate her with. Mostly her character is serious and sad in a emotional way. Her funny moments come when she's playing of Bill Murray's grumpy old man with her own sarcasm. Of the main characters its Naomi Watts who brings the shortest straw. Her performance is alright even if I can't stop noticing the accent. It's just that her character is the least interesting and also feels like the least important. St. Vincent is a very good heartwarming movie. It has humour, a well written story, good actors and characters.