Cyrus

(USA, 2010, 92 mins, 35mm)

Executive Producers: Tony Scott, Ridley Scott
Producer: Michael Costigan
Screenwriters: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass
Cinematographer: Jas Shelton
Editor: Jay Deuby
Cast: John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Keener, Matt Walsh

John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, and Jonah Hill form a dangerously funny triangle in the Duplass brothers breakout comedy Cyrus. Reilly plays John, a down-in-the-dumps L.A. guy still licking his wounds from a failed marriage. His luck takes a miraculous turn when he meets Molly—played by Tomei—at a party. She's warm, smart, beautiful and happy to welcome him to her cozy hillside house. What she hasn't told him is that she shares her home with her 21-year-old son Cyrus, a gregarious aspiring musician. Under his smiling exterior, however, lurks a passive-aggressive momma's boy who has no intention of sharing his mother's affections with any interloper. The territorial battle that ensues is both hilarious and unsettling.

Mark and Jay Duplass, who established their indie cred with the micro-budgeted The Puffy Chair and Baghead, are working with a marvelous, big name cast and a larger budget, but they've lost none of their acute observational powers and sly wit. They take the romantic comedy formula and twist it into a surprising new shape in this irresistible tale of Oedipal passion run amok.

David Ansen

Expected to attend: John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill, Catherine Keener, Jay & Mark Duplass

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