Cyrus movie review & film summary (2010)

Her boyfriend John (John C. Reilly) is fine with that goal, but her son Cyrus (Jonah Hill) is jealous and possessive, and very intelligent about how to use his feelings in a sneaky way so it’s not always obvious what he’s up to. Not obvious to Molly, anyway, because she doesn’t really want to know. More obvious to John, who’s on such thin ice he’s slow to admit how unpleasant the situation has become.

I can imagine how a sex comedy could spring from this premise or even an oedipal drama. What’s intriguing about “Cyrus” is that way it sort of sits back and observes an emotional train wreck as it develops. The movie doesn’t eagerly jump from one payoff to another, but attunes itself to nuance, body language and the habitual politeness with which we try to overlook social embarrassment. With only three people, however, it’s a problem when one is deliberately creating embarrassment.

Jonah Hill, who is a fairly large man, is able to morph himself somehow into a big baby here; he cleverly uses immature conduct to excuse inappropriate behavior. When he hugs his mommy, for example, there’s the not-so-slight suggestion that he does so not as her son but as her smoocher. There’s no suggestion that actual sex has ever been involved, but to poor John (and to us), he’s over the top. Molly seems oblivious.

Cyrus pretends to welcome and like John. His very welcome outreaches the bounds of propriety. Then little things happen. John’s shoes disappear. If Cyrus took them, he could easily throw them away. But “whoever” took them, they’re left where they will eventually be found, a ticking time bomb. Little things like that.

Marisa Tomei has the trickiest role here. She’s lonely, she’s been single too long, and she likes John, the big lug. She befriends him at a party where he’s desperately unhappy. She discovers him peeing in the shrubbery and says what, under these circumstances, is a remarkably tactful thing to relieve the embarrassment: “nice penis.” He needs a woman like this. He’s apart from his first wife (Catherine Keener), who was maybe too smart for him. Molly isn’t dumb, but she’s — well, sometimes she’s improbably clueless. She is also very sexy, so you can understand that a boy the age of Cyrus (but not her son) would be attracted. That avoids possible eww moments.

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