Leave it to the guy who directed “Dumb and Dumber” and “Shallow Hal” to give us one of the best movies of the year. Yeah, that guy.
“Green Book” is charming, funny, heartwarming and profound, all due to the direction of Peter Farrelly, the brilliant script and the performances by Viggo Mortensen (“Captain Fantastic”) and Mahershala Ali (“Roxanne Roxanne”). Ali has burst onto the film scene seemingly from nowhere these past couple years, having only small roles in the last couple of “Hunger Games” films, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” “Predators” and “The Place Beyond the Pines.” Despite having been a main cast member of “House of Cards” since 2013, it was not until “Moonlight” that Ali truly showed he was a force to be reckoned with and, in turn, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. It is a good thing too because he may just top his work in that film here, and it would be fantastic to see him take home the golden statue once again.
Mortenson also deserves love for his more-than-believable performance as Tony Lip. Mortenson is not Italian but does an excellent job selling the role of this meat-headed Italian-American, a role that could have easily fallen into caricature status. The thing that stands out the most about Mortenson is how chameleonic he is, between this, his iconic portrayal of Aragorn in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy and his Oscarnominated performances as Nikolai Luzhin in “Eastern Promises” and Ben Cash in “Captain Fantastic.” Him beating out the likes of other fellow actors for a Best Actor nomination such as Ryan Gosling for “First Man” or Steve Carell for “Beautiful Boy” is not yet known, but it would be no surprise if this performance seals the deal.
Yes, “Green Book” may follow the buddy-road-trip formula, as an audience member could easily guess the characters will be changed by the end of the film. However, the thing that sets this film apart from the rest is that these characters are so palpable and layered.
There have never been arcs quite like these in any other road film. The character arcs intertwine so beautifully, as they both have to learn things from each other and realize maybe they are more alike than previously thought. It also deals with racial issues, which is one of the primary themes of the film. Unfortunately, some of these issues are still too relevant today, but “Green Book” handles it in a very tasteful and classy way.
As far as crowd-pleasing movies go, “Green Book” is as good as it gets. One can walk out of the theater filled with joy, hope and optimism, knowing they have just watched something truly special. “Green Book” may play it safe in a few areas, but it definitely stands a good chance of being crowned as Best Picture at next year’s Academy Awards. 2018 just got really good.
Image from MovieClips Trailers via YouTube
