Two's company, 3 could be funnier in 'Cyrus'

Taking the intimate approach of an independent film to a high-

concept Hollywood premise, "Cyrus" seems unable to put a foot firmly down in either world. It's a sympathetic character study of three dysfunctional wrecks - that's the indie part, naturally - but also a potentially hilarious story about a man trying to date a single mother protected by a fiercely clingy son.

The son isn't the usual kindergartner who can be won over with a man-to-man talk. He is 21-year-old Cyrus (Jonah Hill), whose relationship to the overindulgent Molly (Marisa Tomei) is somewhere between infant and lover. When lonely divorcé John (John C. Reilly) enters the picture, Cyrus proves adept at emotional blackmail, outright lies and, when all else fails, faking panic attacks right when John is rounding third base.

Everyone in "Cyrus" is capable of broad humor: Hill is best known for raunch like "Superbad," and Reilly nearly out-nyukked Will Ferrell in "Step Brothers" and "Talladega Nights." As for Tomei, most of us first met her as a brassy Eye-talian in "My Cousin Vinny."

But the writing-directing brothers Jay and Mark Duplass, clearly trying to graduate from no-budget, all-dialogue projects like 2008's "Baghead," still seem too timid to go for guffaws. When John spies a photo of Molly nursing a pre-adolescent Cyrus, it evokes little more than a chuckle. The Farrelly brothers, by contrast, would have bazooka'd that joke into the stratosphere.

"Cyrus" gets by with its excellent cast and a handful of memorable moments. But it's an overly modest movie that could have used some Hollywood immodesty.

The love life of Reilly

Jay and Mark Duplass, the brothers who directed "Cyrus," say it's no coincidence that John C. Reilly's character's name is John.

"When Mark and I started writing this script, we could not stop imagining John playing this stuff," Jay Duplass said.

"We've loved him for years, and we were always very interested in having him play a romantic lead in a movie," Mark Duplass said. "We hadn't really seen that before."

Neither had others, and after the movie's screenings (such as at the Sundance and South by Southwest Film Festivals), some folks asked how someone who looks like Reilly could win over someone who looks like Marisa Tomei.

Reilly knows someone who really doesn't appreciate that question.

"My wife is, like, 'Wait a minute, what am I, chopped liver? I'm a beautiful woman, and I love you. I see a lot in you.' 'Thanks, honey.' That's why we've been married for 18 years." - Chicago Tribune