The Movie: Green Book
The Director: Peter Farrelly
The Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali, Linda Cardellini, Sebastian Maniscalco, Dimiter D. Marinov, Mike Hatton,
The Story: A working-class Italian-American bouncer becomes the driver of an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South.
The Review:
This is a story we've seen many times before and it really doesn't present anything new when it comes the topics it explores, racism being chief among them. Basically, everyone in the movie is racist and/or bigoted in some fashion and the two main characters must swim through those depths together to achieve a better understanding of each other. Farrelly treads lightly through the story and leaves out the real dynamic punches that would have given the movie much more of an emotional impact.
The real reason to watch this movie is for the performances turned in by Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali who I feel should have been established as co leads instead of lead actor and supporting actor. Anyway, Mortensen really shines and I'd have to say this is some of the best work of his career which is really saying a lot considering his overall body of work. Ali has come into prominence the last few years and should now be considered one of the top actors working today. Individually, they are outstanding, but together they are spot on perfect in drawing everything they possibly can out of the material given to them.
One thing I thought was kind of strange is how the green book referenced in the movie's title only makes two very brief appearances in the film and never really has any meaning to the overall story. I thought there would be some sort of metaphor or allegory but nope. Nothing.
Green Book is a good movie with a tried and true story that features a couple of truly outstanding performances. The plot is a paint by numbers look at 1960's racism in America so don't look for any new insight there just sit back and enjoy two masters of their craft deliver from start to finish.
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