Review of The Beaver (2011) by Dan S — 06 Sep 2011

An ambitious though heavily flawed short-running study of a successful man (Mel Gibson) battling depression, and how his life is saved from certain disaster through the use of a beaver puppet he finds stuffed in the trash.

It is an absolutely ridiculous plot, and the writing drifts from brilliant black comedy to tedious melodrama far too often, but the main reason this film remains so watchable is Gibson's rock-solid, moving turn that may not be a huge performance after all.

I have said it before and I will say it again, Gibson is a figure with many personal problems, but he is an absolute force on the screen, whether it be directing films or acting in them. Here, he turns in an absolute gem of a performance, which single-handedly shifts the movie from "forgettable Lifetime" movie material to a near-good one.

As said, the movie is hamstrung by its writing, especially its inability to give the father-son relationship between Gibson and Anton Yelchin the proper respect and time it deserves, but a trio of great performances (Gibson, Yelchin, and Jodie Foster who also directed this picture) make it occasionally touching despite being mostly preposterous.

It has a lot of ideas and I for one do not know why Foster decided to go with such a short running time here. It is no secret that the public is enamored with Mel's recent habits, and the opportunity to see him play such a similar character to himself for a longer period of time would only help him on the sympathy front.

As is, the movie is undercooked, despite showing spurts of promise.