Jan Wahl Movie Review: 'St. Vincent'
You can hear KCBS Entertainment Editor Jan Wahl's movie reviews on KCBS All News 740AM and 106.9FM Fridays at 8:53am & 4:53pm.
KCBS Entertainment Editor Jan Wahl reviews "St. Vincent," the story of a low-down loser (Bill Murray) who ends up taking care of his 12-year-old neighbor, who is the son of a struggling single mom.
ST. VINCENT (PG-13) 102 min
From his heyday on Saturday Night Live to "Caddyshack" (1980) to "Groundhog Day" (1993) and work with director Wes Anderson, many of us are Bill Murray fans, watching for whenever this unusual actor makes his next caustic, unique move. His dry comedy usually has a level of truth which brings us to his latest: "St. Vincent." This time, Murray plays a crabby hot mess of a neighbor to a hardworking single mom and her 12-year-old son (Jaeden Lieberher). She hires this curmudgeon to watch the boy until she can find someone suitable, but soon an odd friendship begins. Murray's character has a close friend—a woman of the night—played by Naomi Watts, who steals every scene that she's in. That's not easy to do with Murray. We know Watts for her dramatic roles, but here we see a true comic sensibility. Melissa McCarthy is stretches her acting muscles too, playing it straight and poignant as a woman many will relate to--hats off to her for traveling from high comedy to drama. Murray holds it together with a character as complicated and odd as life itself. Directed by Theodore Melfi. Worth seeing.
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