Cyrus

Drew's Thoughts:
Cyrus is the third feature from the Duplass brothers, following The Puffy Chair much-lauded-by-Joe and the unfortunately Dolphin-nominated Baghead. It's no secret that I didn't care much for The Puffy Chair or Baghead but I liked Cyrus. With this film, the Duplass brothers benefit immensely from having a quality cast at their disposal including John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener and, in a rare bit of thoughtful acting, Jonah Hill.
The film is simple. Reilly and Tomei meet at a party and hit it off and then Reilly meets her creepily obsessive son (whom Tomei creepily enables as Colleen rightly pointed out after the film) and we watch what unfolds. The film is refreshingly mellow, it doesn't devolve into an escalating war of hi-jinx between Reilly and Hill as it could have and the characters are much more well-developed than the previous Duplass films. This is due to both the performances and a script that makes even the ridiculous characters pretty believable.
The film is pretty funny too, with master craftsman Reilly, and his numerous interactions with Hill, garnering the most laughs in the theater. The cast has a good chemistry and the small amount of characters in film allows the central trio of Reilly, Tomei and Hill a lot space to develop their relationship. I'd say the actors' work is really the strong point of the movie, and though things will most likely change by the end of the year, at this point all the actors are in the running for some love at the Drews.
I still don't care for the Duplass' directorial style (they gotta take their finger off of the zoom control!) but they've done good work directing the actors and I'd say Cyrus is enjoyable and a modest but
definite success.

Colleen's Thoughts:
For the most part, I would agree with Drew. I would say a moderate success is an adequate description of Cyrus. It was nice to see Marissa Tomei out of her typecast role as slutty/stripper/skank. All of the performances were enjoyable and the movie was cast impeccably. (I also applaud whoever was doing the outfitting /costuming). It was also nice that the movie didn’t devolve into a kooky comedy about Reilly and Hill pulling pranks non-stop. I thought it was a sweet entertaining movie. However, I would say that Tomei's character should be reamed more in the movie for her own terrible parenting skills. The movie had hints of what made Puffy Chair so special. For example, I like the whole running shoes bit. However, it was missing a little bit of the originality that set Puffy Chair apart from other movies. (For example the one person per hotel room bit that was oh-so-Kenny). I thought it was a cute movie that will appeal to a wide audience. I am looking forward to the next Duplass film which I hope will stay the course and not feel too “inde” but have a little more of the Puffy Chair flair.