St Vincent

22 December 2014 | 11:33 am | Hannah Story

"This is feelgood cinema about becoming a better person and recognising the good bits in others."

St Vincent is Bad News Bears with Bill Murray instead of Billy Bob Thornton.

Apparently Bills make great washed-up alcoholics-made-tender thanks to the positive influence of children. And of course, it’s important those children learn how to be “men” and fight and gamble and stuff; it gives them confidence and the keys to the castle of male friendship. Plot = done.

It’s director/screenwriter Ted Melfi’s first film, so you can cut him a little slack for borrowing stock characters and themes. It’s what Melfi chooses to do with those themes, and the cast bringing it to life, that elevates St Vincent above Bad News Bears and its ilk. There’s a rich emotional core, a complexity to Murray’s Vincent that make him more than just a cookie-cutter ‘angry old man’ taking Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher) under his hard-gamblin’/drinkin’/surprisingly selfless wing – and that core does lead to tear-jerker moments. What good is cinema without a good cry at the end, a climactic moment a la About A Boy’s Killing Me Softly to make the audience feel good and tie it all together.

In the end, this is feelgood cinema about becoming a better person and recognising the good bits in others: a worthy message, helped along by supporting performances from Melissa McCarthy and Chris O’Dowd.