Fri. October 24, 2014
By Gregg Shapiro
When Bill Murray, the star of such mainstream blockbusters as Caddyshack, Stripes and Ghostbusters reinvented himself as an indie superstar with Sofia Coppola's Lost In Translation and Jim Jarmusch's Broken Flowers, it was as if he was reintroducing himself to audiences after years of being a familiar face.
The indie comedy St. Vincent (Weinstein) is in good company with "Lost In Translation" and "Broken Flowers." Brooklyn barfly and gambler Vincent (Murray) is having a tough time. He's overdrawn at the bank. He's behind on paying for his Alzheimer-stricken wife Sandy's (Donna Mitchell) care at a facility. His house has lost considerable value and he's deep in debt to a bookie.
Things get worse when Maggie (Melissa McCarthy), a single mom and CAT scan tech in the midst of an ugly divorce from her lawyer husband David (Scott Adsit), moves in next door with her adopted son Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher ). To begin with, the drivers of the moving truck hit a tree resulting in damage to Vincent's car. Then Vincent takes on the paid role of caretaker for Oliver when he gets home from school.
That's more conflict than the average person can withstand. But as we find out, Vincent is more than average. In fact, he's a decorated Bronze Star Vietnam-era war hero. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. The film's journey of discovery, taken by Oliver, is at turns wonderfully funny and terribly sad. Involving visits to the horse track, Vincent's favorite tap and a nursing home, as well as lessons in self-defense, and time spent with pregnant Russian stripper/hooker Daka (Naomi Watts).
Writer/director Theodore Melfi gets first-rate performances from his talented cast, especially young Lieberher who practically steals the movie from Murray (who occasionally channels Christopher Walken). Supporting players are also marvelous, particularly Chris O'Dowd as Oliver's Catholic school teacher Brother Geraghty.
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