★★★★★

St. Vincent is just a fantastic movie!

I will be the first to admit many of both Bill Murray‘s and Melissa McCarthy‘s recent movies have sucked. No doubt about it. Thankfully this one did not! It shines! Nate Corddry is outstanding as the little kid with Vincent (Bill Murray) as his neighbor and baby sitter.

Bill Murry has finally hit his stride again. Not making stupid SNL type comedy for the sake of stupid comedy, but making comedy with a great big heart. Playing a guy whose wife is dying of alzheimer’s in a nursing home and forgot who he was years ago, Bill really sells it.

I don’t wish to give the ending of St. Vincent away, but, the priests at the catholic school (which doesn’t seem to have many Catholics attending) give the kids an assignment to make a presentation on their favorite living saint. When Nate gets up and gives his presentation using all of the things he learned about Vincent, mostly while Vincent was passed out drunk, well . . . it’s okay for a grown guy to cry at that and watch the priest cry too.

Unlike most of today’s sanitized and politically correct school portrayals, this is a “classic Catholic” school. When two boys trade bloody noses they are made to clean the toilets together and, they eventually become friends. People may call that cliche, but, it actually happens. I didn’t go to a Catholic school, but I did go to school with two guys who lived next door to each other as kids. About the age of five they beat each other senseless and were good friends after that. You don’t have to understand it, it’s a guy thing.

Everyone should see this movie at least twice.

For more movie rental ideas please see list one and list two.