St. Vincent

Bill Murray stars as Vincent, a crusty curmudgeon who lives with his Persian cat Felix in a rundown house in Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn. When Maggie (Melissa McCarthy), a newly separated mother, moves in next door, the moving van knocks down a tree branch that crashes into Vincent's ancient Chrysler convertible—making him furious. Maggie is a harried nurse/technician who works long hours at the hospital, so her politely precocious 12-year-old son, Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher), winds up spending his after-school hours with unkempt, foul-mouthed Vincent, who demands to be paid as his bracingly unorthodox babysitter. Vincent's weekly routine revolves around sessions with a pregnant Russian stripper/prostitute (Naomi Watts), who charges by the hour, and visiting his Alzheimer's-stricken wife (Donna Mitchell) at the swanky nursing home he can no longer afford. Otherwise, Vincent is busy drinking at a local bar or betting on the races at Belmont Park, where he dodges a bookie (Terrence Howard) to whom he owes a bundle. Wherever world-weary Vincent goes, Oliver tags along, learning life lessons from a man that Oliver comes to see as embodying an observation by his Catholic school teacher (Chris O'Dowd): namely, that potential saints are among us, if only we look hard enough. Adroitly avoiding schmaltz, writer-director Theodore Melfi's St. Vincent is an enjoyable, slyly subversive comedy. Recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “Bill Murray is St. Vincent: The Patron Saint of Comedy” Q&A featurette (20 min.), deleted scenes (10 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release is a bonus UltraViolet copy of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for an entertaining film.] (S. Granger)