St. Vincent
St. Vincent is the story of neighbors, Maggie (Melissa McCarthy), a newly single working mother together with her 12 year old son Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher) and Vincent (Bill Murray), a rough around the edges, chain-smoking, gambling, alcoholic. At first glance, one would think this film would most definitely be a comedy with the combined talents of McCarthy and Murray, but St. Vincent is much more than that and actually delivers a moving message about people, life, and relationships.
Upon moving into their new home, Maggie must work longer hours and against her gut instinct, hires Vincent to babysit her son. Vincent is a man down on his luck and full of many irresponsible decisions including taking Oliver to the race tracks, bars and introducing him to a pregnant stripper, Daka (Naomi Watts).
Oliver and Vincent develop an unlikely friendship and when Oliver is tasked the assignment of finding a “real life” saint, we see that things in life are not all black and white and he sees the good in Vincent and declares him “his saint”. Screenwriter and first-time director Theodore Melfi shows us that people are not always what they seem and sometimes we must look past their hard exterior to see their true self.
St. Vincent is a wonderful blending of comedy and drama and I give it 8 stars and possibly an Oscar nomination or two.
