St. Vincent

If you are after a comedy that actually makes you laugh out loud, St. Vincent is available in Australia on Stan and Lionsgate+ Amazon Channels, and in the US on Kanopy and Hoopla right now. It says what it needs to say in one sitting, no filler. 2,084 viewers have already rated it on TMDB — the kind of consensus that does not happen by accident. Watch it for Bill Murray — stay for everyone else around them. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Stan.

There is a reason St. Vincent keeps coming up in conversation. St. Vincent gets the fundamentals right first, then finds room to get weird with it. A young boy whose parents just divorced finds an unlikely friend and mentor in the misanthropic, bawdy, hedonistic, war veteran who lives next door. The chemistry Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy bring to it does a lot of the heavy lifting. It was released in 2014. The timing in St. Vincent is precise enough that even the throwaway lines land on a second watch. There is real craft here, even in the moments that do not fully land.

Comedy fans looking for a reliably funny watch will find it in St. Vincent. It rewards viewers regardless of what else is in their watch history. Best experienced as a single, sustained watch from start to finish. Bill Murray anchors an ensemble with real chemistry. Genuinely funny, consistently, across the whole run.