Today I saw the movie St. Vincent with my friend Kim. I’d heard some good buzz about Bill Murray’s performance, and he did not disappoint. The movie, however, was a bit too realistic for me. For most of the film, I sat with a knot in my stomach as I thought “There but for the grace of God for I.” Living in relative poverty, outrunning loan sharks and other creditors, and experiencing a major health crisis, Murray’s Vincent had a life that scared me.
It scared me so much that as I went grocery shopping afterward, I could barely remember what I needed for the week and after stops at two stores, I arrived home without the things I really needed.
The ending of the movie is really quite heartwarming, and at its core, the story is quite similar to About A Boy–which I love–so there’s plenty of good about the film, including how it made me keenly grateful for all that I have:
A car that can take me to two stores, enough money to buy groceries (even mindlessly), and plenty of food storage to make up the difference for the groceries I forgot to buy, and the on-hand ingredients to make a chocolate sheet cake (just ‘cuz) and banana bread with overripe bananas (also, just ‘cuz).
