Third Annual Christmas Movie Review: Green Book [UPDATED]

UPDATE: I was as surprised as anyone — probably more — to see that Green Book won the Oscar for best picture. It was a mostly enjoyable film, heavy on stereotypes, and with a totally predictable plot. Definitely lightweight, it focused on the wrong character. Instead of the boorish-but-redeemed Tony Lip, Don Shirley would have been a far more interesting and worthy protagonist. It speaks volumes that the white character drove the plot, instead of just driving the car. Below is my original review:

Green Book is the latest entry in the unlikely friendship genre, this time telling the (mostly true) story of Tony Vallelonga, a nightclub bouncer from the Bronx, and Don Shirley, a classically trained musician and one of the most popular pianists in the country. Set in 1962, the Italian Vallelonga, known to his friends as Tony Lip, serves as the African American Shirley’s driver on a concert tour through the Deep South. The eponymous book, of course, was the Negro Travelers' Green Book, published annually in the Jim Crow era, with a guide to accommodations and restaurants that were available to black patrons.

The story line is predictable, as the rough and tumble Tony Lip overcomes his own initial prejudice to become a friend and admirer of the tightly-wound Shirley, while they encounter the much more virulent bigotry in the South. There are some plot twists along the way, but they are broadly telegraphed and therefore unsurprising.

I don’t want to create a misimpression. The film is very engaging, and it provides an ever-needed reminder of life in the segregated South. We see Shirley warmly welcomed and applauded in concert venues where he was not allowed to use the indoor plumbing or eat in the dining room. He remains composed, as he has to, while Tony Lip’s rage steadily mounts.  I won’t reveal the ending, other than to say that the screenplay was written by Tony’s son.

Mahershala Ali does a great job as the highly eccentric Don Shirley, straining to maintain his dignity in the most trying circumstances. Viggo Mortensen is almost unrecognizable as the overweight and uncouth Vallelonga, which I suppose was the point of the role. Frankly, I would like to see just one film in which New York Italians – in this case including Tony’s family, neighbors, and friends – are portrayed as something other than loud and ungrammatical extras in a Robert DeNiro film. Given that the real Vallelonga later became maitre d' at the Copacabana, it seems pretty unlikely that he was as boorish as Mortensen plays him.

I might be alone in thinking that Mortensen over-acted the Tony Lip part. He got a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor. Ali also got a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actor, which tells you something about the film’s emphasis. Vallelonga is at the center of the story even though Shirley’s real life was far more interesting.

Even so, Green Book is emotionally satisfying and definitely worth seeing.