Every so often there will be a movie that just sneaks up on you. Universal pictures is responsible for the latest surprise of the year and director Peter Farrelly (“Dumb and Dumber”) has laid a nice plate on the table just in time for the holidays. “Green Book.” The story is based on a true life friendship that is a funny, entertainingly portrayal of an unlikely friendship that stars Viggo Mortenson, Mahershala Ali and Linda Cardellini.
An american bouncer Tony Lip (Mortensen) takes on a driving job for a college-educated Jamaican concert pianist Dr. Don Shirley (Mahershala) in the early 1960s. Back then, racial tensions existed predominately. This film touches on that topic but doesn’t weigh to heavy on it.
Dr. Shirley reaches out to The Negro Motorist Green Book to help his driver navigate through places in the mid-west and deep south that he is allowed to stay for his concerts due to his race. All this is taking place for two months while Tony’s wife Dolores (Linda Cardellini) is back home reading all his letters he mailed to her and preparing for their Christmas dinner. Tony is a heavy smoker and Dr. Shirley always has something to say about that as he is constantly exposed to the smoke. Through out their travels Dr. Shirley puts on an amazing piano concert backed by his other two members of his trio band. The original soundtrack is provided by Kris Bowers and his hands played the keys. There is never a space between his hands and the piano thanks to special effects. It’s amazing.
The heavy snow scenes looked real as did the fired chicken. Every time Tony would throw trash or chicken bones out of his car Dr. Shirley would order him to go back and retrieve it. This is a must see movie and is on my top 10 of the year. Dr. Shirley and Tony remained friends until their deaths in 2013. All three writers of tis film, by the way, are white and even though Octavia Spencer had a hand in it, she was only behind the scenes as an executive producer and never faced the cameras. Farrelly’s maiden voyage in directing is off to one hell of a great start. A
