When the Saints Go Marching In

What happens when you put together a grumpy old man and the next door neighbour’s slightly, odd but intelligent child? The grumpy man who everyone hates at the beginning of the film does something remarkable for the kid, and we discover that actually, the moody old man is a real softie at heart. An episode of US sitcom Modern Family finds a young child bonding with the next door neighbour, a retired fireman. The mother is concerned. But he lists_ Gran Torino_, True Grit and Up as examples of how things worked out in the end. _St. Vincent _essentially follows the exact same formula. We are introduced to Vincent (Bill Murray), a loner of a man who drinks too much, then drives, and spends too much and is generally the last person you would want looking after your child. Not knowing any of this, desperate single mother Maggie (Melissa McCarthy), who is far too busy at her work making a living for herself and her son Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher), recruits Vincent’s help…for an hourly babysitter’s fee of course.

Vincent’s life continues relatively normally despite having a kid to look after in his everyday routine. The two of them hit the racing tracks, his favourite bar, and Oliver even runs into Vincent’s sort-of girlfriend who works as a stripper/prostitute, Daka (Naomi Watts). Daka is Russian and pregnant, which obviously means she is here merely for comedic purposes. Watts makes the most out of her limited, and ultimately pointless role, her scenes could honestly have all been edited out and no huge impact would be made, and the only thing her character contributes is some mild comic relief due to Daka’s failure to grasp the civilised American culture because, you know, she is Russian in a Hollywood production after all. It is rare to see Watts in a role like this, a comedic one, and perhaps this is something she does have a knack for, but in such a thinly written role it is easy to overlook her contribution to the overall narrative.

But then we discover things about Vincent that actually portray him in a completely different light. He regularly visits his wife suffering from Alzheimer’s and insists on doing all the laundry for her. She of course does not remember him one bit, but his undying love for his wife helps him persevere. He also bonds with Oliver. Oliver is the awkward new kid at school with bullies targeting him. Vincent gives these means boys a proper telling-off. Oliver and the main bully becomes best mates in the end. A contrived plot device that makes little sense. Vincent is also a retired army veteran, a fun fact that only comes up whenever the film needs it to. It is never used to shape Vincent’s character as a whole.

The trouble with _St. Vincent _is that it is all so painfully obvious to see how everything will pan out. Making matters worse in the plot overall, is that Oliver has been assigned homework to research into the life of someone who he considers to be a Saint. Given the title of the film, guess who he is going to choose for his project.

In all fairness, predictability matters very little, as long as the actual content of the bonding process between the two protagonists does not feel too contrived or manipulative but the episodic, scattershot portrayal we see here is too superficial to be taken seriously. Vincent, in the end, is supposed to have had a huge impact on Oliver’s life. And for that Oliver and Maggie are rightly grateful. But just how on earth Vincent manages this is never quite clearly explored. This is why the grand finale in which Vincent is honoured to being Oliver’s Saint, is never quite as moving as it should be. The film tries to make it as heart-warming as possible, and succeeds on some levels, but it never quite gets across the huge crowd-pleasing affair it wants to.

The one reason the film manages to get by is thanks to the wonderful performances. Murray, back in a lead comedy role after years of being away, is perfect for the role. Grumpy enough to pass as a man with lots of issues, sadness and frustration, but with enough soft side showing through to be an ultimately likeable individual. It is a shame the script never does him justice. Given that he is at the centre of the film, it is surprising to see how little is actually looked at properly with him. Murray’s scenes of interaction with the young Lieberher are the real highlight, with the two actors playing off each other’s talent with excellent chemistry. There is a bond that is established between the two, which is why the final scene is not a complete and utter disaster. Another strong performance comes from Melissa McCarthy. After a string of roles that involved the actress essentially swearing and shouting as much as she could for laughs, here we have a more intelligent character played by a very accomplished actress. Here is to hoping more roles like this for McCarthy.

Ultimately it is a film let down by a sloppy script that never bothers to do anything decent with potentially interesting characters played by big names. It is pleasant enough, but could have been much more.