Bill Murray’s newest film, “St. Vincent,” sets the tone of the film with its first scene featuring a pregnant prostitute, and it didn’t get much better from there.

This movie is about a newly divorced mother Maggie (Melissa McCarthy) and her young son Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher), who become neighbors with the grumpy, disgruntled Vincent (Murray). Vincent then finds himself short on cash and makes a deal with Oliver’s mom that he will babysit her son for money in return. What follows with these two are fighting lessons, gambling, bar-hopping and gallivanting with a lady of the night.

This movie was advertised as a comedy, and while there were funny moments, that is all they were — moments. Instead of being a comical movie with touches of sadness here and there, it was more along the lines of a depressing movie with comedic touches sprinkled in. Just when you begin to think the movie was picking up and getting to the hilariously promised parts, something sad would happen and you would be left wondering why.

I spent the entirety of the movie waiting for it to take off and be full of raunchy, comedic gold; however, it never quite got there. The ending was touching, but that was the only notably worthy moment of the movie. Overall, it left much to be desired.

Minus the disappointing plot, the casting was what made this movie worth it. Murray is always entertaining when it comes to his roles and this one was no different. He did a perfect job of embodying the essence of the rude, yet secretly caring, old man. During those few funny moments, Murray was on point and did not fail to bring his A-game. I was very happy to find that even though the movie wasn’t the best, Murray was still his typically hilarious self.

Lieberher, who plays the young boy, was phenomenal as well. He kept up with Murray’s attitude and humor like it was second nature. Seeing him interact so well with such a brilliant actor was an enjoyable sight to see.

McCarthy was also superb, despite not being her usual spotlight-stealing funny lady. Her character in this movie is similar to her role in the show ‘Gilmore Girls,’ so fans of the show will be thrilled to see McCarthy portraying the role of the calm, caring friend.

With a talented cast mixed with a second-rate plot, this movie will leave you with mixed emotions — frustrated it didn’t live up to expectations. Assuming you don’t set your expectations too high, you may have a chance of enjoying this movie.

Caitlin Grove

Via alestlelive.com