Review: Green Book
Here's your guide.
Tony (Viggo Mortensen) is an Italian-American bouncer in New York who needs a new job when the club he works at closes to refurbish. His reputation for handling trouble (usually by knocking someone on their ass) gets him an interview with Dr. Don Shirley, (Mahershala Ali) a musician who is going on a concert tour that will take him through the deep south. Tony has to put his own racism aside, and he grows as a person with Don throughout their journey.
There's a lot to say about Green Book. With a title like that, you would think it would be about the black story, but that book makes a whopping three appearances in the film, and it's told from Tony's perspective. They were definitely going for "feel good" instead of actually tackling the story of how it must feel to travel with a book that tells you places where you can visit and come out alive.
The problem is, aside from Mortensen and Ali, this movie is just....basic. It is funny in parts, don't get me wrong. It got a decent amount of laughs from me. The scene where Tony handles a man not adhering to Shirley's contracted piano had me rolling. But it never once tries to be anything extraordinary, which is a shame considering the two lead actors are phenomenal.
It's a fine watch. Tony's point of view wasn't awful but it felt like it was just checking boxes instead of addressing his racism. Don Shirley's view is almost nonexistent. I wanted to know more about him. Maybe the other Farelly brother can go The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby on this and tell it from his perspective?
Recommended: For Mortensen and Ali's performances only.
Grade: C+
Memorable Quote: "Anyone can play Mozart or...Joe Pen..." - Tony (Viggo Mortensen)
This movie snuck up on me out of nowhere - I just saw the trailer last week. It was interesting enough for me to definitely want to see it but I'm not sure I'll be rushing to the cinema. Glad to hear it's a decent watch though :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's definitely not a bad viewing it's just glaringly obvious on how much better it could've been.
DeleteI love these 2 actors especially Viggo...hubba hubba but I am not surprised that it is one of these typical movies that makes one just yawn a bit except for the acting performances. This is the usual Oscar fodder so I expect both will be up for awards.
ReplyDeleteThey deserve it, IMO. But the film shouldn't get any nominations outside of them.
DeleteI'm not sure about seeing it as I like the actors in the film but I heard that it is compared to ugh..... Driving Miss Daisy. It looks like an Oscar-bait film though I wouldn't mind seeing Viggo get nominated.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen all of Driving Miss Daisy, just clips here and there. I've heard people compare it to that as well though. I think Viggo will get nominated.
DeleteAwesome review Brittani
ReplyDelete💙
💜
❤️
💛
Why thank you, Carson!
DeleteYour welcome :)
DeleteI'm sure I'll love it more than you, saccharine heartwarming stories always get to me :D
ReplyDeleteI hope so! Viggo and Ali are great, no denying that.
DeleteConsidering the facyt that I watched this during a Film Festival and all of my other movies where super depressing, this one stood out as the uplifting movie. If you don't watch it through a heavy curtain of criticism, you end up enjoying it for what it wanted to do. It waned to tell an uplifting story of two very different people coming together.
ReplyDeleteThough I do admit, even with all its flaws, Green Book was so gracious with the gay aspect of the story. It came out of nowhere, and it was, imo, treated so well. No conversation followed, they just kept driving.
That part felt really random to me because like you said, they didn't address it at all afterwards. I didn't even see it coming.
Deletei definitely think you're right, but it's hard for me to ignore the racial aspect of it. It's still feel good, but I could never shake "Well, this could be better."
Nice review! I had trouble deciding whether to see this or not. I don't know - it looked exactly as you said, kind of another movie where racist white guy learns about how dangerous racism is. I don't know what's the point of those movies anymore? I might check it out for Viggo and Mahershala's performances sometime.
ReplyDeleteI think it's worth it for them but it's impossible to ignore the race situation in this movie.
Delete"Maybe the other Farelly brother can go The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby on this and tell it from his perspective?" Oh... HELL yeah! THAT is a great idea. I'm with you on this film. Mortensen and Ali are great, but I wanted far more of Ali's character.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I have someone else on board with this! lol
Delete