Directed by Jay and Mark Duplass, whose film The Puffy Chair won the Audience Award at the 2005 SXSW Film Festival, Cyrus tries to be an understated indie comedy with a touching message about relationships amidst a sea of pain and awkwardness. We've seen the basic plot before: Just when John's (John C. Reilly) social life has plummeted and his ex-wife Jamie (Catherine Keener) is about to get remarried, he finally meets Molly (Marisa Tomei), the woman of his dreams, only to discover she has another man in her life -- her son Cyrus (Jonah Hill). Before long, the two are at war over the woman they both love.

While my expectations weren't too high for this movie, I was still disappointed by it. I was hoping that Cyrus's character would be psycho crazy, or the Oedipal complex would be pushed too far for comfort, or that I would at least be moved or surprised once in its 92 minutes. Instead, Cyrus pushed no limits, and the only potentially interesting plotlines were left confusing, unexplored and incomplete. Specifically, the psyche of the title character.

Cyrus is a hilarious, intriguing young man. Hill was able to pull off the funny-yet-tortured role just fine, but besides shedding a few tears and shouting, "I'm a really fucked up person!" toward the end of the movie, we really didn't get to explore his character at all. John was an extremely expressive person, and it didn't seem true to his character to not eventual confront Cyrus about what exactly his deal was. There were also so many nudges about the complexity and tension of how Cyrus felt toward Molly that it felt like a cop-out to not address what was going on. The plot felt boring and cowardly for that reason, but had Cyrus vocalized just what was so "fucked up" about himself, it would have been a totally different (not to mention darker and probably less audience-friendly) movie. Perhaps if the film had less vaguely serious/sexual mother-son scenes, it would have been able to be a little bit goofier and more odd -- think Buster Bluth.

I also have no concept of the film's timeline. I think the entire plot is contained to just a couple of days, and in that span John and Molly meet, start dating, and move in together, while Cyrus moves out of the house and dramatically moves back in. I didn't see the reason for the rush, especially when John and Molly both had spent 10 or so years of their adult lives single. Because both Reilly and Tomei are so talented, their relationship was still engaging and believable, and their dialogue felt very natural.

John and Jamie also had an interesting bond, though it wasn't nearly fleshed out enough. And the hilarious Matt Walsh was completely underutilized, which was beyond disappointing. Because the movie spent so much time focusing on unconventional relationships, mainly that between Cyrus/Molly, Cyrus/John, John/Molly, and John/Jamie, it was problematic in its overall point and plot. And had the actors been less committed to their roles, I think Cyrus would have fallen apart completely, because I doubt the Judd Apatow fanbase will think the movie is light enough to be funny, or that a more intellectual audience will find the film brave or even mature enough to be interesting.

What did you think of the movie? Express your opinions below, along with any Oedipal complexes you may or may not have. And take a look at our guide to other movies coming out this summer.

See why 2010 might be the worst summer for movies ever.

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