A thoughtful feel-good movie

Rating: 8/10 (5 December 2018)

If you like the John Hughes penned "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" and/or similar movies, you'll like Green Book. It's a Holiday buddy movie with a strong social and racial undercurrent. It's held together by a great script by writers Brian Hayes Currie, Peter Farrelly, Nick Vallelonga, good direction by Peter Farrelly, and terrific performances from Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen (Linda Cardellini was also really good as, you guessed it, the wife). It's not the least bit saccharine or heavy handed. It's just a really enjoyable, and sometimes funny movie that you'll walk out of the theater feeling great about having seen. And yes, you can totally take the family.
And to address the main criticism of Green Book, that it focuses too much attention on Mortensen's character, well, that's unfair. It's a two-hander, a buddy road movie, so both guys get full character arcs and depth. Most importantly, Mahershala Ali's character isn't just a passenger in the story. He's the main protagonist. He has goals, needs, and makes decisions. And race is central to everything.
To repeat, Green Book is a lovely film and low-key the best Holiday movie of the year. I highly recommend it.