The Beaver (2011)

A troubled husband and executive adopts a beaver hand-puppet as his sole means of communicating.

Director:

Jodie Foster

Writer:

Kyle Killen

Stars:

Mel Gibson, Cherry Jones, Jodie Foster

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mel Gibson	...	Walter Black
Cherry Jones	...	Vice President
Jodie Foster	...	Meredith Black
Anton Yelchin	...	Porter Black
Riley Thomas Stewart	...	Henry Black
Zachary Booth	...	Jared
Jennifer Lawrence	...	Norah
Jeff Corbett	...	Volunteer Dad
Baylen Thomas	...	Skeptical Man
Sam Breslin Wright	...	Man
Kelly Coffield Park	...	Norah's Mom
Michael Rivera	...	Hector
Kris Arnold	...	Waiter
Elizabeth Kaledin	...	Reporter
Matt Lauer	...	Matt Lauer

Storyline

Walter Black ('Mel Gibson' ) is depressed and sleeps most of the day. It's driving his family crazy, and his wife Meredith (Jodie Foster) kicks him out. Walter starts carrying a beaver puppet and tries to commit suicide (unsuccessfully). He uses the puppet to talk to himself, trying to bolster his spirits, and is trying to rebuild his life. Through the beaver, the family begins to learn about Walter's history and problems, and as he continues rebuilding, the beaver shows us all a way to cope.

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Plot Keywords:

puppet | beaver puppet | title directed by female | depressive disorder | animal in title | 

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Taglines:

He's here to save Walter's life.

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material, some disturbing content, sexuality and language including a drug reference

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [jp] Summit Entertainment [us]

Country:

USA United Arab Emirates

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 May 2011 (Germany)

Also Known As:

Mi otro yo

Filming Locations:

1125 Grand Concourse, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$21,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$107,577 (USA) (6 May 2011)

Gross:

$958,319 (USA) (24 June 2011)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Summit Entertainment, Participant Media, Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Jim Carrey and Steve Carell were previously attached to play the lead character.

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Goofs

When Meridith, Henry, and Porter are moving out they are shown packing things. Porter is shown removing his map that covers the hole in the wall, he rolls it up and puts it away. Then Mel Gibson is on The Today Show his son Porter is shown sitting in his room watching television with the map back up and covering the hole in the wall. In the following scenes the map is removed.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Walter Black: This is a picture of Walter Black, a hopelessly depressed individual. Somewhere inside him is a man who fell in love. Who started a family. Who ran a successful company. That man has gone missing. No matter what he's tried, and he's tried everything, Walter can't seem to bring him back. It's as if he's died, but hasn't had the good sense to take his body with him. So mostly what he does is sleep.

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Connections

Featured in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Episode #19.146 (2011)

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Soundtracks

"Exit Music (for a Film)"
Written by Thomas Edward Yorke, Jonathan Richard, Guy Greenwood, Edward John O'Brien, Colin Charles Greenwood and Phillip James Selway
Performed by Radiohead

User Reviews

Mel Gibson turns in one the year's best performances!

I'm sure everyone has heard of the problems that Mel Gibson has had recently. Hell, they probably know more about his personal life and what happened with him before they've even heard about this movie. That's a shame, because this is a pretty good movie. Granted, it's not anything groundbreaking --- but it is a fine drama about a man who tries to find himself before he loses himself completely. Some very good acting and directing (from Jodie Foster, no less) make this one worth watching.

Walter Black (Gibson) is suffering from depression. So bad, in fact, that his wife, Meredith (Foster, pulling double duty here) has to throw him out so as not to inflict his sickness on their kids: Porter (Yelchin) and Henry (Stewart). The depression isn't only affecting his home-life, it's also affecting his work as well. He's the CEO of a major toy company, courtesy of his father. The Vice President of the company (Cherry Jones) is more qualified, but Walter inherited the position after his father's death. While throwing away some boxes from the trunk of his car, he comes across a beaver puppet that someone tossed aside into a dumpster. He picks it up and takes it with him to the hotel where he plans to drink himself into a stupor and then hang himself. The next morning, Walter awakens to a gruff voice (his own, in fact, but with an English accent) and a puppet staring him in the face, known only as The Beaver. He informs Walter that he's there to save his life... and in the beginning, The Beaver does just that. While Walter finds new life and purpose again through The Beaver, his son Porter has his own little dilemma. Firstly, he writes term papers for fellow classmates for money and the class valedictorian, Norah (Lawrence) hires him to write her graduation speech and secondly, he's afraid he's turning into his father, so he writes down all the similarities as to not duplicate them, because he despises the man.

The Beaver does move a bit slow -- but then again, it's a serious movie about depression, I didn't expect car bombs and people getting pistol-whipped. Jodie Foster doesn't let us linger too long in one area before whisking us away to another story line -- it's a technique that allows us to follow a few different stories so we're not bored, so we don't count down the minutes till the end. I think she does a masterful job of telling the main story without it getting too silly and doesn't play the puppet for laughs. It would be a different story had she wanted to film a comedy, but she keeps everything in a nice balance with some serious storytelling with extremely light injections of humor.

The reason to watch The Beaver is Mel Gibson, I'm afraid. I think it's one of the most daring and boldest roles of his career. Had he not been a Hollywood asshat early on this year or the last part of last year, he just might be looking at an Academy Award nomination. He makes it seem that The Beaver does have his own personality and that it's a separate character altogether. He gives the film's best performances and it's also one of the year's greatest. Foster does just fine as his wife -- there's not much for her to do in front of the camera, but it's nice to see her all the same. Yelchin and Lawrence also crank out some good performances, but nothing particularly floored me with what they brought to the table.

I would have liked to see a bit more resolved by the movie's end, but it wasn't so left unopened that it made me made, either. Even if you have a problem with Mel and just can't stand the guy because of his off-screen antics, you should give this one a try. I'm not telling you to like the guy, because as I said before, things happen where we either like the person or not, no amazing performance is going to change my view about how I feel about a person, that's for sure. But... that being said... I challenge you to find a better performance by a lead actor this year so far.

More reviews at www.soveryterry.com

Final Grade: B