• Green Book historically will go down as one of the lesser deserving Best Picture winners. That’s not Green Book’s fault, and it is not alone (The Artist from 2011 is just as undeserving and there are a dozen others that are in the same ball park)
  • 1989’s Driving Miss Daisy (which this shares a ton in common with) also is far from being the best film of its year (1989 in that case).
  • It’s a drama/comedy blend—a two-hander with (sometimes comically) dissimilar characters. Plenty of scenes to chew on and chemistry for the two talented actors: Mahershala Ali (Oscar winner for best supporting actor here) and Viggo Mortensen (ever the method actor- clearly relished the attempt at the weight gain (he’s eating in every scene) and accent work to add to his already impressive resume). Again, Driving Miss Daisy is the obvious comparison (they’re in a car, period film, race is a big part of the film). I actually think Driving Miss Daisy is clearly stronger. I think 2013’s Philomena is another one with Judi Dench and Steve Coogan (road trip, two totally different characters)— no surprise- Green Book got 4 stars from the great (SMH) Rex Reed. Reed has Philomena as his #1 film of 2013.
  • Farrelly loves his road trips—Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin
  • Cinematography, mise-en-scene- — not what this film is about at all- but a nice exterior of Carnegie Hall at 27 minutes in with the 1960’s Cadillac
  • Strong rapport between the actors, teaching Viggo’s character how to write letters to his wife— it’s just a really easy enjoyable 2 hours.
  • Recommend but there are at least 30 movies from 2018 that are superior