The Feel-Good Movie of 2018...

Rating: 9/10 (31 January 2019)

It's an old misconception that opposites attract each other. Why should they anyway? We welcome personalities that comforts us, reassure us, if they differ from the way we are, I can only imagine the situation where the strong attracts the weak, but you can't make a buddy movie picture with one weak character, you'd be like splitting in half the entertaining value of the film. Fortunately, Peter Farrelly's "Green Book" is about two characters, with sharply defined personalities, who are only opposite on the cinematic surface, the difference is the silver platter on which the meal is served.
But we can't overlook the platter, can we? A Caucasian middle-aged man and a young black man, a colorful Italian-American man with a well-spoken, highly educated and cultured man or if you prefer a street-smart larger-than-life robust-looking average Joe and a misunderstood sissy-looking genius, a family man and a bachelor... finding a common denominator between Viggo Mortensen as Tony Lip aka running-gag-first-name Vallelonga and Mahershala Ali as Dr. Don Shirley is tougher than spotting Waldo in a bazaar.
But for all these superficial differences, the two guys were meant to form a pair, especially when the story of their road-trip and building friendship has 1962 in the backdrop, when we know that the South is part of the itinerary and that it's based on a true story. That's pure Hollywood Oscar-bait stuff, in fact opposite don't attract each other but they certainly attract audiences. So the film is formulaic but the dynamic chemistry between Ali and Mortensen elevates it to an enjoyable, heart-warming feel-good picture worthy of all the applauses at the end despite its 'obvious' significance, the film feels calculated to please but I would lie if I said I didn't like it.
And the theater was quite crowded tonight and when it began and I was trying to counterattack any attempt to move me with emotional tricks, I was quickly drawn into the simple straight-forwardness of the story and the fact that (and that's a pattern I noticed in many great friendship stories), no matter how different Doc and Tony are, they strike as nice and decent guys, and on the basis of these characteristics, they attract each other. Tony is so particularly sympathetic that he makes Doc look arrogant by pure contrast, so much that I was questioning the choice of that scene where he put two glasses in the trash bin after his wife (Linda Cardellini) gave them to two Black workers.
Yes, that scene was welcomed with a few gasps and many laughs but retrospectively it doesn't quite hold up with the personality of Tony Lip who could be a caricature if Viggo Mortensen wasn't so damn hilarious. The fact that his behavior all through the film belies this character-establishing made me wonder whether it was meant to mislead us of it was an actual flaw in the narrative. Anyway, I liked Tony. We don't know exactly what he used to do for a living: bouncers for night clubs, occasional muscle man, driver for pick-ups or plows, he's obviously a man who can do anything and can't afford to be broke. The set-up to his unemployment is rather confusing, it only allows us to visit his family and neighborhood before it gets quickly and thankfully to to the point, the man's hired as a driver for Doc Shirley during a tour in the South that would end before Christmas Eve.
The film might be set in 1962 but we've seen enough movies to anticipate crucial scenes from the the first incident to the Christmas celebration and the introduction of a new friend, yes, it doesn't help if you've seen "Planes, Trains and Automobiles". But let's not kid ourselves, the film that is more likely to be compared to "Green Book" is obviously the Best Picture winner of 1989 "Driving Miss Daisy" which had moved me so much that I could bet a fortune there would be a scene with the Mississippi Police and even one where urination would be an issue. It's also interesting the way the film switches traditional roles by having the literate Doc teach his driver how to write letters, in "Miss Daisy", it was Tandy teaching Freeman. I'm not trying to diminish the film's originality, many scenes play out fairly well because of the atypical aura of Doc and how Tony plays it like Joe Pesci with the appetite of Homer Simpson (his comical timing is perfect) and yet has a somewhat dignified constancy forcing our respect.
And that's the film's miracle, it only relies on the acting power of these two giants, they're so good that the plot hardly matters, the two of them make the most predictable, even contrived situations such as a bar brawl, an arrest or a simple conversation a pure delight. And as if the film was aware of that force in the characterization, I had the feeling that it tried to reach some spectacular climax near the end, make some political and social comment and yet halfway through the final act it changed its mind and provided a fun, nice anticlimactic ending, convincing us that the film is meant to feel us good, and we do need sometimes a good feel-good film.
A few hours before getting to the theater, I was controlled by three police offers, I was confused by the hostility I could read in one's eyes, why was he acting that way, what was wrong with me? And maybe that's one of the thing with the film, people judged for the way they look, the way they behave and the way it just doesn't seem to fit. It's possible that the best trick of "Green Brook" is just when you think it's Tony who'll be taught a lesson, you have another thing coming. The arch is rather obvious when you think about it, but I don't mind the kind of obviousness that would made me feel good at the end.