The movie Cyrus focuses on the life of a man who has succumbed to the idea of being alone for the rest of his life. The man, John, played by John C Reilly was divorced from his wife over seven years ago and never truly accepted the idea of losing her nor has he really gotten over her. His nights are spent by himself searching the internet for "material" to distract him from his perpetually lonely existence. One evening his ex-wife (played by Catherine Keener) drops by with the news that she is getting married and needless to say John is less than enthusiastic about this news. In the midst of their argument about him moving on with his life, she encourages him to accompany her to a party.

At the party John has little luck meeting anyone until he happens to step outside to enjoy the night air and he bumps into Molly (Marisa Tomei). They have an immediate connection and what starts off as two crossing paths turns into a night of passion. John eagerly pursues this relationship with Molly but he very quickly notices that she only spends time with him at his place. Eventually he becomes tired of this scenario and in the best of moments decides to follow her home; its there that he meets Cyrus (Jonah Hill), Molly's son who lives at home with her. Initially John does his best to be open minded about her having a grown boy living with her until he begins to witness the very personal nature of their relationship; care in point: the shower scene with Molly and Cyrus. Anyone truly in a situation like that would have gone running for the hills. John on the other hand sticks around because of the connection he feels with Molly.

As time passes though and he becomes closer with Molly it becomes apparent to John that Cyrus is doing his best to force John to either leave on his own or convince Molly that John is wrong for her. Eventually things come to a head and its there that this movie takes a familiar turn. Molly misunderstands a situation and John leaves. Up till this point the movie had some things going for it. John C Reilly is an excellent actor and he knows how to come off insecure and awkward during most scenes. Marisa Tomei equally has proven that she can hold her own in a movie after witnessing her performance in The Wrestler. The few pitfalls though are what make it difficult to truly embrace this movie. Jonah Hill can be quite funny and he has certainly proved it, here though the level of comedy in this movie doesn't really match his style. This movie's comedy tends to come from the awkwardness of regular people and Jonah Hill comes off as anything but regular.

The comedy itself is another thing that does not do this movie justice. Quite frankly the movie would be better served as a straight drama. Even though it is easy to understand what the directors and writers were trying to do with the humor in this movie it just doesn't ever truly connect. It doesn't help that the camera work throughout makes you feel like you might lose your lunch. In the end Cyrus isn't a bad movie, but it isn't a great movie either. It's simply another movie that came to the theaters as quietly as it left, and in a world where you need to be loud to be heard that just doesn't cut it.