First Take: Green Book- the underdog in the 2019 Oscar race

SYNOPSIS: A working-class Italian-American bouncer becomes the driver of an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South.

This film has been one of the dead certs in terms of this year’s Oscar nominations, and for director Peter Farrelly (one of the dudes who brought us Dumb and Dumber), this is a radical change in tone for his work… it’s just a shame that it has to disappoint in some parts, and excel in others.

Farrelly has had a big hand in the production of this one, both directing and co-writing the script, and in terms of the film’s pacing, it does take a little while for it to get going. But once it does hit its stride around an hour in, the story he and co-writers Brian Currie and Nick Vallelonga (the real son of Tony Lip, the film’s main character) does feel true to life, and gives a very good idea as to what America in the late 1960s was like- but at 2 hours 10 minutes, there could have been some elements cut for timeliness in that script, especially knowing the ‘true story’ kind of thing we have here. Behind the camera is Sean Porter, who does a good job shooting this one, and Kris Bowers provides a decent enough score for what was needed of him.

But with the performances, this is where the film has its best chance for Oscar glory- as Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali are just incredible in their respective roles, and they are able to make that idea of the culture shock for both of their characters obvious to the audience without really having to alter their performances. Now, for us British audiences, the rest of the cast (with the exception of one star) are relative unknowns, but with someone like Linda Cardellini providing support to these two, it’s hard to argue with the talent on show- it’s just a real shame that the script has those minor issues.

THE VERDICT

With some outstanding performances, and an unfortunately weak sense of technical credibilities, Green Book could get some awards attention. But the controversy that’s flared up with the cast’s, well, liberal use of some pretty awful language at press events could cost their production company Annapurna dearly.

RATING: 3.5/5