Performances salvage shallow 'Green Book'

Poised to be a major contender through awards season, “Green Book” engages sporadically thanks to the chemistry between stars Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali. They succeed despite an old-fashioned and cliche-riddled script that routinely undermines its own good intentions.

The fact-based tale follows African-American classical and jazz pianist Don Shirley on a concert tour through the Deep South during the 1960s. He hires Tony “Lip” (Mortensen), an Italian-American bouncer to be his driver and bodyguard on tour, and the pair immediately clash. Don considers the outspoken Tony to be “uncultured,” while Tony is a huge racist (but the movie wants you to think he’s a likable, redeemable racist).

Directed by Peter Farrelly (yes, one of those “Dumb and Dumber” Farrelly Brothers) from a script co-written by the real Tony’s son, “Green Book” means well in its depiction of how cultural misunderstanding leads to prejudice. Unfortunately it pursues that thematic thread in shallow, outdated and sometimes dramatically-insulting ways. Tony is pitched as the hero of the movie at almost every opportunity, and the script creates a troublesome conflict between the two characters by suggesting Don needs to “loosen up” about race and be more tolerant of Tony’s loudmouth impulses.

Mortensen no doubt delivers an entertaining and likable performance. Don Shirley, however, is the far more interesting character — a genius artist who uses his extravagant lifestyle to mask a devastating sense of self-loathing. Whenever the movie pitches exterior conflict, usually involving a run-in with a “bad” racist (meaning a racist more threatening than Tony), the focus stays with Tony’s perspective. We only get small glimpses of Don’s inner turmoil, though Ali (a recent Oscar-winner for “Moonlight”) does his best to foreground it with a penetrating and magnetic performance. The movie needs less of Tony’s quips and more of Don’s struggle.

“Green Book” isn’t trying to be insensitive or reductive about race relations, but it stumbles in that direction anyway, mostly because the script lacks authenticity as it tries to dispel simplistic lessons about a complicated stretch of history. The “Green Book” of the title refers to a real life guide that provided African-Americans a list of welcoming establishments in the South, and you’ll learn more from reading three paragraphs on its Wikipedia page than watching this movie. “Green Book” as a film doesn’t need to be an exhaustive history lesson, but it shouldn’t take on the title if it can’t better incorporate it into the story it is trying to tell.

In the end, “Green Book” is more interested in the redemptive storyline of a casual racist. The ending, which uses a snowy Christmas Eve journey to tug on some easy heartstrings, teases a better, more progressive ending for Don and Tony before it reverts back to its central message: “Tony’s a good guy! Don should loosen up and trust more white people!” It’s nonsense, but it’s admittedly effective melodrama.

Ali and Mortensen will deservedly coast through awards season straight to Oscar nominations. In fact, their performances, honest and compelling, are probably more impressive given the limitations of the script.

Plenty of people will see “Green Book” and love it. No knock on those people — it’s pitched as an entertaining crowd-pleaser and hits those beats effectively. But as a representation of the best filmmaking and storytelling in 2018, especially given our current cultural landscape, “Green Book” seems stuck in the past.

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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com