Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali make Green Book worth the trip
Yes it’s Driving Miss Daisy in reverse – but it’s also Planes, Trains and Automobiles
Yup you guessed it - ANOTHER true story, this time with the added trend of it’s director (Peter Farrelly) being known far more for his comedy than Oscar-bait with something to say.
But much like Adam McKay with ‘Vice’, this treads the line between finger-wagging and story-telling very well.
Viggo Mortensen is “Tony Lip” - a wiseguy, racist Italian roughneck blundering his way from doorman job to hotdog eating competition (his appetite is unbelievable) with a ciggie permanent in his gob.
He lands a job driving ”The Doctor” - a black jazz pianist called Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) on a tour through the deep South.
It’s 1962 and the kind of ingrained deep-rooted racism that is only just started to be weeded out through evolution is prevalent.
You know the kind - side-eyes in the Indian restaurant, making the waiters repeat everything twice just to remind them of their accent, despite understanding perfectly well.
“These are your people” Tony says, referring to Aretha, Chubby and Little Richard on the radio - completely perplexed that a black man doesn’t know about every other black person on earth and has never eaten fried chicken.
It’s this that means Tony’s job is going to involve a hell of a lot more than just driving - he’s there for his fists as much as his cruise control.
Naturally, as the story progresses, Tony Don - initially hostile to each other - soften and we spend much of the journey searching for common ground.
While the relationship trundles on in a relatively cliched way, the details get to the heart of the matter.
Things such as Don carrying make-up to cover up the beatings from racists he expects on the road.
You believe them growing to like each other.
Yes it’s Driving Miss Daisy in reverse - but it’s also Planes, Trains and Automobiles.
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Don's snobbish outlook on America and his own heritage (as well as deep-rooted shame about his own life) means it’s not a one-sided lesson.
It’s not my place to get my head around what, if anything, ‘Green Book’ is looking to say about the issues so apparent, other than it never offers any solutions other than highlighting the fact things haven’t moved on as much as we’d like to think.
Dressing that up in such a cosy and ultimately heartwarming story won’t satisfy everyone - but Mortensen and Ali are so good together it’s absolutely worth soaking up the hope it proffers.