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Green Book
(Universal Pictures/Participant Media/DreamWorks Pictures)
By Lucas Allen
You may have heard of this movie, known for its various controversies, through awards season, but “Green Book” is a lot better than you may think.
While it’s certainly a movie made to be Oscar-nominated, it’s also a perfect crowd-pleaser that doesn’t look down on its audience while giving them something likable. Much more surprisingly, it’s directed by Peter Farrelly of “Dumb & Dumber” fame and executive produced by Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer.
In 1962 New York, Tony “Lip” Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen) is a part-time bouncer at a Mafia-owned nightclub, known for using his mouth as much as his fists. In need of some extra cash, he accepts a job offer he never thought he would actually do. He has to drive accomplished pianist Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali), who is black, below the Mason-Dixon line on a tour with bandmates Oleg (Dimiter D. Marinov) and George (Mike Hatton). Despite some concern from his wife, Dolores (Linda Cardellini), and his extended Italian-American family, Tony takes the job and soon his personality begins to clash with Shirley’s more sophisticated persona.
Then Tony starts to see Shirley’s extraordinary talent on the piano which impresses him and the two soon strike up a friendship. Don even teaches his chauffer how to better his writing skills when Tony is writing letters to his wife. However, Vallelonga’s knack for using his fists causes a rift between him and Don as they deal with racism in the South.
It’s easy to sum up this film as opposite “Driving Miss Daisy,” but it still works with two likable lead characters who are truly polar opposites of each other. All throughout the movie, you understand each of the character’s traits and how they contrast to each other. In each conversation scene, they both bring weight and meaning to their own words. Their scenes alone is worth the ticket price especially for a movie that’s a bit too long at 130 minutes.
As expected with these kind of movies, it portrays the Deep South in the early-60s with racial overtones. For any viewer, it’s an educational trip back in time to an era where racism was more common in America than it is today. The music for the film consists of a jazz-style score while using pop, R&B, and classical songs of the time to good effect. It helps add to a kinder tone to its setting.
Both of the lead actors give amazing performances that enhance the road trip drama. Mortensen delivers a delightful turn as someone who’s good-hearted beneath his hardened exterior. Ali also delivers in another stellar performance that could likely earn him his second Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
“Green Book” is exactly what you expect from the trailers, with an added bit of likability to it. While this year’s list of award contenders is decent at best, there’s some titles like this that are worth watching with your loved ones. It’s also nice to appreciate some classical jazz music heard in this kind of movie.
THE MOVIE’S RATING: PG-13 (for thematic content, language including racial epithets, smoking, some violence and suggestive material)
THE CRITIC’S RATING: 3.25 Stars (Out of Four)
