Caffeinated Clint
By Ashley Hillard
Carey Mulligan (”An Education”)will outlast most of her peers in the up-and-coming actress category.She can act circles around many of the actors she shares scenes with and ”The Greatest” is the latest example of her talent.
In it, Mulligan plays Rose, a pregnant teen who turns to the family of her deceased boyfriend, Bennet Brewer (Aaron Johnson) after the tragic accident they were in.
Brewer is the emotional core of the film as it is his death that plunges his family into a state of depression, acting out and grief. It’s good that Johnson is not in very many scenes of the film as he doesn’t add much to the idea that his character is a great loss to everyone around him. A good performance comes from Zoe Kravitz as a dysfunctional teen and Johnny Simmons (”Jennifer’s Body”) who plays Bennet’s younger, drug addicted brother Ryan. Pierce Brosnan plays Allen Brewer and is sympathetic in his portrayal as a flawed family man trying to hold everyone together. Susan Sarandon plays his wife, Grace, in an over the top way that is effective, as she is at times heart breaking and at other time irritating because of her irrational behavior.
First time director Shana Feste does a nice job bringing a story to life that could have easily become too melodramatic to stomach. At times, scenes do drag on too long, but overall, this is a solid film that shows a family’s various ways of coping with a tragic loss.
Carey gives a beautifully understated portrayal of a teen mom who has a drug addicted mother and is left with the option of staying with her boyfriend’s fractured family or couch crashing as she plans the rest of her life with a baby. Rose shows strength as Bennet’s family doubts that the baby is even his and gives her little emotional support.
Though the ending is a bit of a letdown, on the whole “The Greatest” is fairly great – one of the better films you’ll see this year.
