Review of St. Vincent (2014) by Patrick L — 01 Apr 2015

"St. Vincent is no saint, it's a heavy sentimental chore".

Movie Review: St. Vincent.

Date Viewed: October 29 2014.

Written and Directed By Theodore Melfi.

Starring: Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, Chris O'Dowd, Naomi Watts, Jaeden Lieberher,.

Terrence Howard, Kimberly Quinn, Scott Adsit and Ray Iannicelli.

We all love Bill Murray don't we. Of course, we first knew him as a big comedy star in films such as "Ghostbusters" and "Stripes" but his best movies I think are "Groundhog Day", "Lost in Translation", "Broken Flowers" and "Moonrise Kingdom". In his new comedy "St. Vincent", he plays a drunken, gambling war veteran who befriends a 12-year-old boy named Oliver (played by newcomer Jaeden Lieberher). Basically, Murray is playing a character that Jack Nicholson or Dustin Hoffman might've played 15 or 20 years ago.

"St. Vincent" isn't exactly new territory for Murray or Melissa McCarthy who plays his new neighbor.

Murray plays Vincent MacKenna, a hard-drinking war veteran who lives alone with his cat, Felix. Soon, a single mother named Maggie (McCarthy) and her son, Oliver (Lieberher) move in next door to Vincent. When Maggie gets forced to work long hours at the hospital, Vincent gets the opportunity to make some babysitting cash. Taking care of Oliver doesn't mean that he's helping him with homework, they visit the bar, the racetrack and the nursing home where (OH GOD!) Vincent's terminally ill wife lives. (How many cliches does this movie have? Too Many!).

Vincent is also in a relationship with a pregnant Russian hooker named Daka (Naomi Watts). Look movie, we do not need a Russian hooker and Watts' accent is terrible. How can you cast a talented actress like Naomi Watts to play a pregnant Russian hooker? Did she read the script at all? Also, the scenes between Vincent and his Alzheimer's-afflicted wife are just a cheap way to inject melodrama into it's weak core.

Bill Murray is just fine playing the cranky old war veteran and the scenes between him and Jaeden Lieberher are effective but writer-director Theodore Melfi doesn't have good pacing and he could've made the story more tighter.

As it is, "St. Vincent" is just a kinder and gentler "Bad Santa" but it doesn't have edge or complexity to it's story. It's a heavy sentimental chore.