Film Fest 919: GREEN BOOK: Friendship & Prejudice On A Journey Through The Deep South

With the addition of younger, more diverse members to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences over the last few years, the definition of an “Oscar movie” has evolved rapidly. What we once viewed as sure bets are no longer guaranteed to gain any traction. Moonlight can beat La La Land. A strange Guillermo del Toro romance can win over the hearts and minds of voters. A superhero movie might net several nominations at the end of this year. Virtually anything is possible.

That being said, it appears we’ll be setting aside two slots in the Best Picture race each year for conventional awards fare designed to appeal to the older core of the Academy. In 2017, The Post and Darkest Hour earned nominations precisely because they ticked pretty much every mandatory Oscar box. Reviews were weak, but those historical dramas were essentially made in a lab for the purpose of winning awards.

This year, the traditional Oscar bait slot seems likely to go to Green Book, a star-driven historical chronicle with humor, heart, and enough gravitas to function properly. It debuted to rave reviews and strong audience reactions at the Toronto International Film Festival, with Dumb and Dumber director Peter Farrelly‘s first foray into more serious fare launching headfirst into the Oscar face.

And after seeing it for myself, I only have one question – everyone is really losing their minds over this?

Piano Tour In A Racist, Segregated Society

Green Book is set in the early 1960s, when Jim Crow laws were still firmly in place in the American South. However, the story begins in New York City, where we’re introduced to Tony “Lip” Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen). Since he specializes in brute force and tidy (and very violent) conclusions to conflict, Tony works as a trusted bouncer at the Copacabana Club. When he’s not beating up thugs at the bar, the family man spends much of his time with Dolores (Linda Cardellini), his beloved wife.

With the Copacabana closed for the winter for maintenance, Tony is left to find another part-time gig. Though he spends time winning hot dog-eating contests (he has a voracious appetite) and hanging out with his kids, a more dependable income is going to be necessary to make it through the Christmas months. Tony gets offers from local gangsters and lowlifes, but he refuses their paychecks in favor of a job driving a doctor for several weeks. Except the doctor is actually a world-famous piano player named Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali). And it’s a lengthy tour through the Deep South. And Dr. Shirley is an African-American man.

Now, Tony will say that he’s not a racist. But he’s definitely more than a little racist. When two black men come to work on an appliance at the Vallelonga house, Dolores offers them each a glass of water. After they leave, Tony tosses the glasses in the trash. So yeah, pretty blatant racism. Conveniently, the film mostly chooses to ignore that in favor of a fairly standard road trip movie, where an Odd Couple-esque pairing learn to understand and care for each during a tumultuous journey. The guarded Dr. Shirley learns to love Tony, Tony overcomes his prejudices, and everybody goes home happy. Smiles all around!

Breezy Laughs Dilute Important Message

But when you look at the meat of this story, should everything really feel so light and fluffy? Don’t get me wrong, Green Book still turns its attention to moments of vicious racism quite frequently. Dr. Shirley encounters all manner of inhumane treatment on his trip, ranging from nasty beatings to despicable prejudice. Co-writer/director Farrelly shows it all; I don’t intend for my criticism to make it seem as if  this is some sunny portrait of the Jim Crow era.

Still, the film is inescapably jovial, eager to please its audience in any way possible. This is par for the course for many of the recent inspirational stories about overcoming racism, but Green Book goes for laughs in a more obvious fashion. Things can’t get too dark, because that would ruin the audience’s good time. The film feels like a calculated blend of moments intended to make viewers gasp with horror and silly buddy comedy tropes, which theoretically produces a crowd-pleaser in the end.

Judging by my audience’s reaction to the film, the recipe for success worked. And if I’m being 100% truthful, I wasn’t completely immune to these charms either. The script by Farrelly, Brian Hayes Currie, and Nick Vallelonga (yes, he’s Tony’s son) generates a fair amount of hearty chuckles, mostly based on the dynamic between Tony and Dr. Shirley. As the unlikely pair drives from New York to Alabama, an often compelling mix of one-liners, personality quirks, and racial tensions emerge, challenging and enhancing this complicated relationship.

However, what’s novel the first time around grows tiresome as the story pushes forward. Watching Tony and Dr. Shirley bicker in the car is very funny, especially with Viggo Mortensen‘s broad Italian caricature working as an excellent foil for Mahershala Ali‘s buttoned-up academic. But by the third or fourth time you see them jabbering back and forth, the effect has lost its luster. Green Book is consistently repetitive, moving right along to different incidents that are barely distinguishable from one another.

Middlebrow Road Trip Pulls Its Punches

In the process, Green Book loses its grip on anything important it may have to say about its characters or this situation. Mortensen and Ali are good enough, but they are hindered by the material in a significant capacity here. Ali feels especially restricted in his role as the piano genius, who seems limited to lectures and stoic behavior for much of the running time. There are hints at a more interesting, complex portrait of Dr. Shirley, but by keeping things so restrained to Tony’s point-of-view, we’re rarely granted the opportunity to understand what makes the man tick. It’s all mannerisms and no real depth.

To be fair, Tony is also a fascinating character – he’s the quintessential tough guy with a heart of gold. Yet as the scene with the water glass confirms, he’s no saint. Sadly, the film never cares to investigate Tony’s own racism. Okay, so there’s a scene where Dr. Shirley points out that Tony holds some prejudiced belief, but it’s not enough. The arc is thin and easily resolved; once again, too much conflict would make this movie a tougher pill to swallow.

As the film continues, Farrelly keeps pulling his punches. One scene depicts cruelty and mistreatment at the hands of the police department, only for a later scene to explicitly propose that not all cops were quite so bad. Tony and Don get in a big fight at one point, but they’ve reconciled in no time.

Before my screening, screenwriter Vallelonga emphasized that everything in the film happened to some extent. So maybe an officer really did help Tony and Dr. Shirley on their way home, but I don’t think the film realizes how these choices make any political statements ring false. The middle-of-the-road treatment is reassuring and nice and it makes everyone feel good, and yet it’s untenable if you want to offer any real commentary on social issues.

Green Book: Conclusion

Yet to be honest, I’m not quite sure Green Book is looking to make any legitimate political statement. I think it just wants to serve as a nice diversion where everyone ends up happy, even if it does take place during a painful chapter in history. The film has been frequently compared to John Hughes‘ Planes, Trains & Automobiles, and it’s not hard to see why. In fact, you could almost say that this is a remake of that movie, since it literally rips off the ending beat-for-beat. It’s remarkably brazen.

I’m sure Green Book will be a huge hit in November. It’s guaranteed to receive an “A+” CinemaScore from audiences. It’s comfort food, equipped with witty performances, a solid soundtrack, and the faintest aura of social importance. But for the life of me, I can’t see what distinguishes this from the tons of other polite Oscar dramas that came before it. We’re in familiar territory here, and the formula has produced much stronger, more dynamic results than this.

Are you excited for Green Book? Are you intrigued by director Peter Farrelly’s transition from goofy comedies to Oscar fare? Let us know in the comments below!

Green Book screened on October 4, 6, and 7 at Film Fest 919 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The film will be released on November 21, 2018 in the US and on February 1, 2019 in the UK. For full international release information, click here.