Funny fluffy comedy about a oppressive time in American history.

Rating: 8/10 (23 April 2019)

Green Book certainly stirred up controversy when it unexpectedly won Best Picture at the 2019 Academy Awards. I personally didn't care as I lost interest in the Oscars completely (these are the people that nominated Black Panther for Best Picture). Certainly is the film in my Top 5 favorites of 2018, not really. That doesn't mean however that Green Book isn't an endearing, enjoyable and above all funny film about friendship and acceptance. The themes of this film have been highlighted around a zillion times in other films such as The Help. However that doesn't mean that the formula is broken. I for one appreciated this films humor, performances and story. A tough Italian brute (Viggo Mortensen) is looking for a new job. He is hired by an African American musician (Mahershala Ali) to drive him through the Southern States in the early 1960s for a tour. The film wisely goes for humor over melodrama which is what sets it apart from all the other films about this topic. Not that the film doesn't have dramatic moments, in fact these are all the more effective because the two main characters were so likeable and funny. Mortensen gave such a heartwarming performance. His character is a brute, he doesn't mind getting physical when someone pisses him off. But his character also expressed such an aura of warmth were the audience simply gravitated towards him. He doesn't understand the racism, he doesn't get the absolute treacherous and human rights violating laws of Jim Crow under which African Americans suffered. However the film wisely never preaches about the privileged white man not knowing the truth, it just shows it, plain and simple. Ali too gave a terrific performance, his character had a sense of sophistication and coolness even in intense situations. It is incredibly heart wrenching to see such a professional guy who lives his passion pushed to his breaking point by his societies' racist rules. Overall there is not much else to say about Green Book. The themes are obvious and the film doesn't attempt to hide it. Mortensen and Ali are terrific and share great chemistry. A heartwarming family film that allows children to have a more sanitized look into America's darkest points of history. No 12 Years A Slave but still a good time.