One of the best independent films of the year, St. Vincent is a star-studded story of a curmudgeon who pushed people away and abuses himself … right until a kid comes into his life.
St. Vincent (Bill Murray, Mellissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts, Jaeden Lieberher) — Naomi Watts plays a sympathetic Russian hooker; Mellissa McCarthy plays it straight as a hard-working single parent; and Bill Murray steals the show as a down-his-luck deadbeat drunk in St. Vincent.
Murray plays Vinnie, one in a long string of memorable, quirky Murray roles that seem like a tailored suit to this most unique of Hollywood stars. Murray drinks, smokes, gambles, and pays for companionship (provided by Daka, the pregnant prostitute played way out of type by Naomi Watts) as he abuses his own house and the people around him. On the surface, this story feels tired and this character right out of Grumpy Old Menbut it is more layered. When Maggie (McCarthy), a CT tech, moves in next door with her adorable, skinny, articulate, and loving son, Vinnie finds himself as after-school babysitter in order to earn money to pay off his bar tab, his gambling debt, and his overdrawn bank account.
His friendship with the kid, Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher), is the not only the heart of the movie, it is heart-tugging. He teaches the kid how to defend himself while, in the course of the film, the kid teaches him how to care again. You see, Vinnie had an excuse for being such a louse. Vinnie is in pain. So is Maggie, McCarthy’s character. Her husband cheated on her with numerous women, leaving her and Oliver to fend for themselves. Now he wants custody of the kid. Oliver is surprisingly unfazed, the most rational character in the movie. He is attending a brand new Catholic school where he is an immediate outcast.
The beauty of St. Vincent is the ensemble cast and the superb acting. The weakness is the predictable story, the convenient truths, and the pre-ordained outcome. At under two hours, the pacing is good. The budget was small, but this is a “little” movie. A little movie with a heart that beats to a familiar drum.