While watching St. Vincent (2014), the more I realized I had erroneously dismissed it all those years ago when it premiered.  I recall seeing the trailers and giving it a mental hard pass.  Nearly ten years later, with a few stints as a youth minister, I see it in a different light.  To be clear, the main character, Vincent MacKenna (Bill Murray), is not the kind of person one would typically think of for honorary sainthood, which is the climactic moment in the film.  At the same, the events that lead to this moment remind us of a few key facts about these holy men and women, which I will elucidate in a moment.  For now, just know that I was (mostly) pleasantly surprised.

It would seem from the start that St. Vincent is undeserving of the “St.” in front of his name.  Nobody that knows him, like the people who regularly witness him getting drunk at the local bar, would call him saintly.  He is also unrepentant about his behavior.  It looks like he is not long for the world, either, coming home drunk yet again and managing to knock himself out in his kitchen.  What stirs him the next morning is a moving van backing up for Maggie Bronstein (Melissa McCarthy) and her son, Oliver Bronstein (Jaeden Martell), to occupy the neighboring house.  Unfortunately, the driver backs into his tree, dislodging a branch that lands on his car.  The previous night he had backed into his driveway and damaged his fence, which he also blames on the movers, demanding that somebody pay.  This is not the best of beginnings for Maggie in the neighborhood.  Oliver’s day at his new school does not go better.  Though he claims that he thinks he is Jewish, his teacher, Brother Geraghty (Chris O’Dowd), demands that he lead them in prayer.  This is followed with bullying, primarily from Robert Ocinski (Dario Barosso), who takes Oliver’s clothes, keys, phone, and wallet.  He manages to make it home okay, but finds that he cannot gain entry to his house.  Seeing no other option, he knocks on Vincent’s door.  The normally cantankerous Vietnam veteran miraculously takes pity on the kid, but to a point.  On the heels of Oliver getting a hold of his mom, Vincent talks to her and demands that she pay him for his services.  Vincent has a lot of debts around town.  Maggie agrees, and soon it becomes a regular arrangement, though one of necessity.  She is a single mother, having left her husband, David Bronstein (Scott Adsit).  Being the sole bread winner means she has to work as a nurse as much as possible, taking any shift that she can cover.  Because her and Oliver do not know anyone aside from, vaguely, their rude next-door neighbor, Vincent becomes the erstwhile baby sitter.  Despite taking on this responsibility, it is clear that he is not going to let his young charge change his lifestyle.  Among the many examples of the poor role model Vincent is for Oliver is bringing the kid to the horse racing track (where they win nearly $3,000 that Vincent later steals), and taking him to his watering hole.  It is not all a disaster, however.  Oliver also goes along to Vincent’s weekly visit to his wife, Sandy MacKenna (Donna Mitchell).  She is suffering from Alzheimer’s, so he poses as a doctor in order not to alarm, while also quietly doing her laundry for her.  He also teaches Oliver to stand up to Robert.  This last part, I suppose, is well intentioned, though it results in Oliver breaking Robert’s nose.  Because of the amount of work being done by Maggie, and the time Oliver is spending with Vincent, she hears of these behaviors at inconvenient and unexpected moments.  At first it comes from St. Patrick’s during a meeting with Brother Geraghty and Monsignor O’Brien (Ron McLarty).  The worst, though, happens with David, who had secretly had Oliver’s activities monitored as part of his suit to have full custody of his son.  Thus, the trips to the bar and the track are revealed, making Maggie look like a deadbeat mother.  At the same time, things begin going downhill for Vincent.  The home in which Sandy is being cared for demands a hefty bill that he cannot pay.  He then takes the winnings he and Oliver made, and loses it all on another horse bet.  Finally, he comes home to find Zucko (Terrence Howard), a loan shark to which Vincent owes money, in Vincent’s home.  Before he can be beaten up for not paying, he has a stroke.  Though Maggie is part of the group of medical professionals that take care of him, he still blames her for many of his problems.  Around this time, at school Oliver’s class is given an assignment to write about somebody they know that exhibits the traits of sainthood.  Seeing Vincent throwing away memorabilia from his army days, Oliver decides to sneak down and look through it.  He finds the record of a hero.  He chooses to see the good in Vincent, and interviews people in the area who know him to get the rest of the picture, including Vincent’s prostitute/stripper girlfriend, Daka Parimova (Naomi Watts), for whom he is caring while she completes her pregnancy.  Speaking of which, the day comes for her to give birth, and she rouses Vincent from his stupor.  Instead, it had been a ruse to get him to go to St. Patrick’s, arriving just in time to hear Oliver extoll his unexpected virtues.  Vincent is as touched as a guy like him can be.  From there, we see him be on hand for Daka to give birth, along with Maggie and Oliver.  The final shot is of the four of them gathering for a meal at Vincent’s house, and braving Daka’s cooking.

Before getting into the heart of my Faith perspective on St. Vincent, I have to note the Catholic stereotypes present.  As with many Hollywood examples of Catholicism, there is this association of the Irish with the Church here in the United States.  Brother Geraghty, Monsignor O’Brien, and St. Patrick’s are all evidence of this, as if there were no other nationality belonging to the Faith in this country than the Irish.  Still, at least it got right the fact that parochial schools are accepting of people of all religions.  This accuracy extends to what Brother Geraghty refers to the fastest growing religion of all, that of “I don’t know.”  Yet, I do not want to wallow in the misery of diminishing Mass numbers.  Instead, I want to underscore the brilliance of the assignment that Oliver and his classmates were asked to undertake.  As somebody who has struggled to get my teens interested in the lives of the saints, I wish I had thought of this exercise.  As best as I can tell, they are asked to choose a real saint, and then discuss how somebody they know mirrors that holy man or woman.  This is great because it humanizes these people who had actual lives beyond the chronicles of how God miraculously intervened in their lives.  Put differently, nobody is born a saint.  It is also safe to say that this privileged position is something they had to work at, and that none of them took it for granted.  Learning about their experiences can seem daunting, setting an impossible standard.  Viewing them through the lens of somebody we know can make the path to Heaven, which should be the ultimate goal for all of us, makes it seem that much more attainable.  So, good job movie.

Not so good job, St. Vincent, with some of the adult material in the film.  There are scenes inside a strip club, though, thankfully, there is no nudity.  Without condoning such behavior, and at the risk of sounding cliché, Vincent is a regular guy with problems that are serious, but human.  Even if we do not all have gambling debts and wives with Alzheimer’s, we can relate to such people on a human level.  This same is true for the saints.