Movie Review: “Green Book”

“Green Book”

Release Date: November 16, 2018

Runtime: 130 mins

Directed by: Peter Farrelly

Starring: Viggo Mortensen

                  Mahershala Ali

                 Linda Cardellini

                Sebastian Maniscalco

“Green Book” is a movie with good intentions, a good heart and a good message. Unfortunately, it tackles the theme of race relations in mid-20th century America with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

Luckily, the film at its core is not a social commentary but rather a story of a developing friendship and understanding between two different people. The scenes in which Viggo Mortensen’s (“The Lord of the Rings” trilogy) Tony and Mahershala Ali’s (“Moonlight”) Dr. Donald Shirley are alone and just having conversations, no matter how dull the subject, are far and away the best parts of the movie.

While a part of this can certainly be attributed to the pretty good screenplay, the performances deserve most of the credit for how engaging these scenes are. Mortensen and Ali are both fantastic actors, and they were able to convince me they were not themselves, but rather entirely different people. I did not see the actors; I saw the characters. This is no easy feat, especially for recognizable stars like these two.

Unfortunately, the superb acting cannot quite compensate for the bland visuals. Director Peter Farrelly built his career on gross-out comedy films in the late 90s and early 2000s (“Dumb and Dumber,” “There’s Something About Mary”). I am not ashamed to admit I enjoy several of these films. Farrelly has proven he knows how to direct actors in comic performances, and he knows how to effectively frame a sight gag.

He is not, however, known for his shot composition, camera placement, camera movement, etc. Farrelly’s direction in “Green Book” is competent, and I think he is passionate about the material. Nonetheless, it is painfully average. The film just did not visually stimulate me at all.

This is a road movie, and it strictly follows the standard template of other films in the genre. A road movie has two or more characters—almost always with some sort of conflict between them—who are put into a circumstance which requires them to go to the same destination, and they have to drive together in the same car to get there. They usually follow a pattern of conversations in the car, followed by plot development on their stops along the way. The final destination is the location of the resolution of the plot as well as the reconciling of differences between the characters. “Green Book” does not have enough personality and style to make up for the uninspired story structure.

This, in addition to the uninteresting directing, had me bored throughout much of the film and made it feel longer than it actually was.

The score of the film also annoyed me a little bit. I felt like it was telling me how to feel about what was happening when the performances and writing were doing a great job of that already. It failed to do the most important thing a film score has to do: complement the tone and emotions of a film. It effectively did the opposite. I found it quite sappy and melodramatic.

Not to sound like a broken record, but the acting really is the redeeming quality of the film and almost makes up for its shortcomings. Ali and Mortensen have amazing chemistry and dedicate themselves completely to their roles.

In general, though, my complaints with “Green Book” are things I think general audiences will either not notice or not care about. This is a feel-good movie, which is completely inoffensive. Check it out sometime if you are interested in seeing two amazing performances.

Drew Eckhart is a sophomore history and pre-law major from Edmond, OK. He has loved movies for as long as he can remember but thinks his passion really began when he watched “The Dark Knight” for the first time in theaters. His favorite type of movie blends comedy and drama seamlessly, and he loves great action films. In Drew’s free time, he enjoys reading and playing video games, as well as watching TV and movies. His favorite TV show is “BoJack Horseman” and his favorite movie is “Whiplash.”

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