As "Mr. Cellophane" in Chicago, John C. Reilly - to steal a line from his comedy Step Brothers had the "voice of an angel." While it wasn't a Fergie/Jesus mix like that movie elaborate, the always-reliable actor showed great depth as a singer displaying one killer falsetto. Having said all that, it's a delight to watch Reilly sing bad karaoke in his new film "Cyrus," a mildly dark comedy co-starring Jonah Hill and Marisa Tomei.
The film, written and directed by Jay and Mark Duplass, finds Reilly playing a good-natured editor who has given up on love after his marriage fell apart some seven years ago. Enter Marisa Tomei's Molly, and he falls hard -- unfortunately she comes with baggage in the form of an eccentric 21-year-old son named Cyrus (Hill).
The film, which opens in select theaters this Friday (June 18), is a nice detour from the bland blockbuster summer fare and features strong performances throughout, especially from Reilly who delivers some of his finest work. The flick, like his character, is tender, funny, and delightfully awkward. At the film's New York Premiere last week, I asked Reilly about his chemistry with Hill (the two are at odds throughout), and how it felt to do some off-key singing and roaming around in a large chunk of the film in his tighty-whities. As I found out, he enjoyed it all. On an unrelated note, he name-dropped a certain someone he met once at Warren Beatty's house.