Movie Review: "Green Book"

"Green Book": A-.  Two men who could not me more dissimilar set out on a road trip from New York to the Deep South.  One of them, Don Shirley, is a renowned classical pianist living in New York City, where he plays in Manhattan's most famous concert halls to silk stocking audiences.  Don is dignified, cultured, smooth and educated.  His only apparent problem is the color of his skin, black.  Why is that a problem?  Because this is 1962 and his record label has booked him on an eight week tour which will take him through the Jim Crow South.  Thus, Don needs more than a chauffeur; he needs a protector.  Enter Frank Vallelonga, better known as "Tony Lip."

Tony is a bouncer in a New York night club.  Within the movie's first ten minutes we are treated to two entertaining glimpses of what lies ahead.  Tony talks the club's gullible hat check girl into letting him have a hat which he knows belongs to a powerful guest, probably a mobster.  A few hours after the hat's owner goes berserk upon learning his hat has disappeared, Tony miraculously "finds" the chapeau and presents it to the man, who insists Tony accept a reward.  Also, disregarding threats upon his life, Tony punches out a hoodlum who was causing a disturbance at the club.  Despite these unsavory early glimpses of Tony, he manages to come across as kind of a lovable lug.

When the club temporarily closes, Tony needs a job, a predicament which fits nicely with Don's circumstances.  The interview in Don's plush apartment does not go well, but Don is smart enough to realize he may need some muscle to get him through the South.  This does not impress us as a match made in heaven, but crackerjack writing by a trio comprised of director Peter Farrelly, Brian Currie, and Tony's real-life son, Nick Vallelonga, coupled with the brilliant acting of the two leads, Viggo Mortensen as Tony and Mahershala Ali as Don, results in near perfection.

At the outset we figure that Tony's bad habits and uncouth manner may turn out to be more than Don can bear.  The smoking, the slang, the lack of "book smarts," the carefree attitude and approach to life.  Little by little it chips away at Don's patience.  But over the course of many hours together, whether it be in the car, their shared motel rooms, restaurants or elsewhere, Don comes to the realization that, beyond transportation and preservation, the relationship between these two men can be more of a two way street.  Some things Tony has to offer are actually worthwhile, if not beneficial to Don's better understanding of himself.  The two men go from a distant "putting up with each other" to a mutual admiration and friendship.

Even before I stepped into the theater I knew this film had two huge plusses in its favor.  First, I have somewhat of a predilection for so-called "buddy road trip movies."  (Okay, I loved Thelma And Louise too!)  The setup lends itself to character development, clever dialogue, and something else a linear guy like me appreciates: a beginning, a middle and an end.  Green Book checks all three boxes. Secondly, I consider Mortensen and Ali to be two of the finest cinema actors in the modern era.  (For confirmation, check out 2007's Eastern Promises and 2016's Moonlight, respectively, both of which I graded A-.)  In Green Book, Don transcends from coldly intellectual to approachable congeniality, while Tony's change is from tomato can to guardian angel.

There are several human touches in this film which deserve a shout out.  The Italian meals cooked by Tony's wife, Dolores (Linda Carelini), and served to a full table of family and friends made my mouth water and reminded me of Sunday dinners at my grandma's in Chicago.  The periodic letters penned by Tony to Dolores, little by little improving in quality and artistry to the point where authorship was obviously assisted by Ali.  And finally, Don's epiphany upon hearing Tony's claim that he, Tony, a man who grew up on the mean city streets, was in some ways "blacker" than Ali.

The film's title refers to a guide book written by a black man, Victor Hugo Green, for the benefit of African Americans traveling through the South.  It listed motels, restaurants and other facilities at which they were welcomed.  Many editions were published following Green's death in 1960, and, sadly, even after the first Civil Rights Act signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964.