Bawdy, disrespectful, annoying, irritating, not to mention full of debt, Vincent McKenna is a neighbor nobody wants. Only Daka, a Russian born pregnant stripper who can stand him from time to time. One day Vin gets new neighbors, Maggie and her son Oliver. A new boy at school, Oliver gets bullied and is forced to ask Vin for help. Vin again asks for payment for babysitting Oliver. The next days have Maggie even busier so she again asks Vin to babysit Oliver after school. While with Vin, Oliver meet the bullies again and is defenseless against them. Vin helped him, and he then teaches Oliver to defend himself.. Vin also teaches him to gamble at the horse tracks, on which Oliver luckily picked a winning trifecta bet. Vin even takes Oliver to a bar and introduces him to Daka. But besides that Vin also takes Oliver to see his wife Sandy who's in a nursing home battling dementia. Sandy doesn't recognize him anymore, but Vin keeps coming weekly to check on her and do her laundry to save expenses. One day a bookie who Vin owed money to come to his house checking on things to exchange as exchange for payment, but they find nothing really of value.As they start to threaten Vin, he threatens them back.
But suddenly he lumps down to the floor and the bookie leaves him there, afraid of any repercussions. Oliver finds Vin and he gets him to the hospital with Maggie. Apparently he had a stroke that also impairs his mouth's muscles. On the hospital Maggie gets to know about Daka. Maggie then faces goes to court, battling her ex husband over custody of Oliver, in which she only gets shared custody due to pressing evidence that she let Vin babysit Oliver. The court reveals to Maggie about Vin's activities with oliver, that Vin is being a bad education for him. Maggie forbids Oliver to see Vin anymore. At school Oliver gets an assignment to identify saintly individuals around him, and he chooses Vin. He then does a research on Vin's background and finds that Vin was a commended soldier who saved many lives in Vietnam. Daka tricks Vin into coming to the school as Oliver presents all his findings on Vin; what Vin did to Sandy who recently died, his Vietnam records, his influence in making Oliver a better boy, and also the negatives of Vin. Vin is touched by it and receives the school's commendation. Maggie and Vin's get along better and Daka at last have her baby girl.
I wouldn't say that the story is that original in a sense. For me this movie feels like Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino (2008) in a different light. The two movies have many similarities between them; a war veteran who retreated from the normalcy of social life, a young boy distanced from the rest of his family, racial and cultural issues, and that the war veteran has to be a father figure for the young boy and eventually making him a better person. The difference between the are; compared to Gran Torino, this movie is funnier, less stretch on the story since it doesn't offer as many issues on it's spotlight as Gran Torino (2008) did, different story weighting between the two as the different genre makes them to be, and also the different kind of final conflicts and endings.
The writer/director did a good job in the character design and development. Vin's irritating character is so thick all throughout the movie, that I feel that if this movie has no comedic aspect, the viewers would easily spit on Vin if they see him on the street. Oliver's character is also done well, even without much depiction about his background with his father.
The comedy is quite subtle, but is very effective. I really like how the comedy doesn't involve any big setups or large damages to things. Vin's annoying personality really dominates the whole comedy setting, although there are some funny moments on Oliver's side too. I really like that the comedy in this movie is mostly in the dialog, predominantly on Vin's one-liner responds. The examples I really like are; the moment when Vin relearns to speak and Maggie shows him a picture of a tree and Vin answers "money", and also Vin's responding "call the plumber" when Daka says her water broke.
The acting is nicely just as what my expectations set. Bill Murray did great in depicting Vin's very irritating personality. He can still retain the annoying expression even when he's doing the good things Vin does. Melissa McCarthy is quite surprising since the last two times I saw her was in rowdy characters in The heat (2013) and Tammy (2014). She can really handle having the comedic focus not set on her character but can give the story the completing act it needs as the mother character. Jaeden Lieberher also did nice in creating the balancing act that makes the main focus of the story comes alive.
My final say is that St. Vincent (2014) is worth your time to watch thus I recommend it at the cinemas. A score of 7 out of 10 is what I give this movie. It's very entertaining with a nice fatherly bonding on top all those hilarious one-liners and mischiefs.
But suddenly he lumps down to the floor and the bookie leaves him there, afraid of any repercussions. Oliver finds Vin and he gets him to the hospital with Maggie. Apparently he had a stroke that also impairs his mouth's muscles. On the hospital Maggie gets to know about Daka. Maggie then faces goes to court, battling her ex husband over custody of Oliver, in which she only gets shared custody due to pressing evidence that she let Vin babysit Oliver. The court reveals to Maggie about Vin's activities with oliver, that Vin is being a bad education for him. Maggie forbids Oliver to see Vin anymore. At school Oliver gets an assignment to identify saintly individuals around him, and he chooses Vin. He then does a research on Vin's background and finds that Vin was a commended soldier who saved many lives in Vietnam. Daka tricks Vin into coming to the school as Oliver presents all his findings on Vin; what Vin did to Sandy who recently died, his Vietnam records, his influence in making Oliver a better boy, and also the negatives of Vin. Vin is touched by it and receives the school's commendation. Maggie and Vin's get along better and Daka at last have her baby girl.
I wouldn't say that the story is that original in a sense. For me this movie feels like Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino (2008) in a different light. The two movies have many similarities between them; a war veteran who retreated from the normalcy of social life, a young boy distanced from the rest of his family, racial and cultural issues, and that the war veteran has to be a father figure for the young boy and eventually making him a better person. The difference between the are; compared to Gran Torino, this movie is funnier, less stretch on the story since it doesn't offer as many issues on it's spotlight as Gran Torino (2008) did, different story weighting between the two as the different genre makes them to be, and also the different kind of final conflicts and endings.
The writer/director did a good job in the character design and development. Vin's irritating character is so thick all throughout the movie, that I feel that if this movie has no comedic aspect, the viewers would easily spit on Vin if they see him on the street. Oliver's character is also done well, even without much depiction about his background with his father.
The comedy is quite subtle, but is very effective. I really like how the comedy doesn't involve any big setups or large damages to things. Vin's annoying personality really dominates the whole comedy setting, although there are some funny moments on Oliver's side too. I really like that the comedy in this movie is mostly in the dialog, predominantly on Vin's one-liner responds. The examples I really like are; the moment when Vin relearns to speak and Maggie shows him a picture of a tree and Vin answers "money", and also Vin's responding "call the plumber" when Daka says her water broke.
The acting is nicely just as what my expectations set. Bill Murray did great in depicting Vin's very irritating personality. He can still retain the annoying expression even when he's doing the good things Vin does. Melissa McCarthy is quite surprising since the last two times I saw her was in rowdy characters in The heat (2013) and Tammy (2014). She can really handle having the comedic focus not set on her character but can give the story the completing act it needs as the mother character. Jaeden Lieberher also did nice in creating the balancing act that makes the main focus of the story comes alive.
My final say is that St. Vincent (2014) is worth your time to watch thus I recommend it at the cinemas. A score of 7 out of 10 is what I give this movie. It's very entertaining with a nice fatherly bonding on top all those hilarious one-liners and mischiefs.