Marval Movie

St. Vincent is like a nice hug from a person you don't really get along with. You know there not perfect, and you are more aware of their flaws, but you know the hug is genuine.

The movie follows Vincent MacKenna, a drunk, gambler, fowl mouthed loaner that hires a pregnant prostitute named Daka, played by an unrecognisable Naomi Watts. He doesn't really like people that much. Things don't go well when his new neighbours moving truck crashes into his tree which breaks the branch and crushes his car and fence. Vincent demands that Maggie Bronstein pay for the fence and the branch, he'll sue the moving company.

Bill Murray is as good here as he was in Lost in Translation. He is very controlled, not being a over the top but a real person. He uses more comedy but as a fallback for his uncomfortableness around other people. He does however put on a Brooklyn accent which he sometimes uses for certain parts, its ok at times but he never commits to it all the way.

Melissa McCarthy is also very good here. She is more real than we have ever seen her, she's a mother that is divorced from her cheating husband and works hard to make sure she can support her child. This isn't a character we haven't seen before but the character is so well drawn that McCarthy is able to bring her to life in a realised way. It was probably also a wise decision for her to have a straight role under her belt before she becomes too typecast.

But the true stand-out is Jaeden Leiberher as Oliver. He is synical beyond his years, there are the regular child actors, good child actors and there are the phenomenons. Leiberher is able to hold his own alongside McCarthy and Murray, two well established film stars. This is a kid with a bright future.

Oliver goes to a catholic school, even though he "thinks he's Jewish" his teacher, Brother Geragthy (Chris O'Dowd), welcomes all faiths from Buddhism, agnostic, he is Catholic which he of-corse says "Is the best religion because it has the most rules." He encounters bullies, as must every child in movies it seems. He takes the bus home because his mother works so much to support them.

Eventually Oliver and Vincent's paths cross, and Vincent sees a chance to make some babysitting money. This movie is the american eqivalent of About a Boy, although the main character in this movie might be even more dysfunctional than Hugh Grants character.

This is a movie that is hard to pull-off. It needs a character that is grizzly on the outside, but has a warm centre but at the same time be a believable human being. These are not real people but they are charming in their own way and are as good as they can be.

Rating: 3 1/2 stars out of 4