When it comes to making a movie, there are typically three phases: pre-production, production, and post-production. Filmmakers would most likely debate about which phase is the most important, but I'm willing to bet that most would agree that it's pre-production. With a polished script in place and all of the logistics ironed-out, the production phase should go very smoothly, or as a professor once told me, "Piss poor planning leads to a piss poor product." And yet, there are some filmmakers who reject this idea and like to simply wing it. The results of this approach vary wildly and we often get something like Cyrus.

Cyrus introduces us to John (John C. Reilly), a middle-aged man who isn't very happy with his life. He was once married to Jamie (Catherine Keener), but they've been divorced for seven years, and Jamie is about to be re-married. However, John and Jamie still work together, as film editors (I think). Saddened by John's miserable existence, Jamie insists that John attend a party which a friend is throwing. John agrees to go, and there he meets Molly (Marisa Tomei). They hit it off and spend the night together. After seeing one another again, John follows Molly home and there, he meets here 20-somethning son, Cyrus (Jonah Hill), a quiet young man who likes experimental music. Molly tells Cyrus about her relationship with John, and he seems fine with it. However, John soon gets the feeling that Cyrus doesn't like him and he finds the extremely close relationship between Molly and Cyrus to be a bit creepy. As John and Molly grow closer, John becomes convinced that Cyrus is trying to drive them apart.

What keeps Cyrus from seeming like a really long Saturday Night Live sketch? Nothing. The premise is solid -- a man starts dating a woman who has an adult son and that son tries to drive the man away. However, the movie doesn't seem to know where to go with this idea. We simply get a lot of scenes of John C. Reilly saying, "I don't think Cyrus likes me." The story could have gone in many directions, but it remains quite stagnant for much of the running time. Even the inevitable confrontation between the two feels forced and tired. After the first act, we don't care whether or not Cyrus likes John, as we don't like Cyrus or John, and we just wish that something would happen.

The misguided story and lackluster dialogue (which again, is most likely improvised), ruins the movie, which is unfortunate, as the acting here is pretty good. The most surprising aspect of Cyrus is Jonah Hill. I usually find him annoying and somewhat repugnant, but here, shorn of his usually neckbeard, Hill feels perfectly cast for this role. He backs off from his normal attempts at being funny and plays Cyrus in very quiet and calm way. This makes the character difficult to read, and thus, we are left to wonder how Cyrus feels about John. John C. Reilly already looks like someone who's down on his luck, so his turn as John feels real, and we don't have any trouble sympathizing with him. Marisa Tomei continues to hone her metamorphosis into the go-to person to play a middle-aged woman looking for something. The performances are good, but it's like watching a first-class athlete play on a last-place team. Improvisation and experimentation certainly have their place in film, but these notions shouldn't ruin a movie.

Cyrus tries to bring back The Human League on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The film has been letterboxed at 1.85:1 and the Disc contains a 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 25 Mbps. The image is fairly sharp and clear, showing just a hint of grain and no defects from the source material. The colors look good and the image is rarely overly dark or bright, although a few of the shots in the party scene are a bit dark. For a Blu-ray, the level of detail is disappointing, but this may have to do with the way in which the film was shot. The Disc carries a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 3.2 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. Sticking to the mumblecore philosophy, this is a quiet movie, and other than Cyrus' music, we rarely get a moment where there are any interesting audio effects. Having said that, the dialogue is always clear and audible.

The Cyrus Blu-ray Disc contains a few extras. The Disc contains two DELETED SCENES which run about eight minutes, and can be viewed with introductions from the Duplass'. One shows a project which John made for Molly, which, even given the fact that he's an editor in the film, seem unrealistic. The other shows the consequences of Cyrus' big decision. "Q&A with Directors/Writers Jay and Mark Duplass" (8 minutes) has the filmmakers discussing the making of Cyrus, including making the leap from very small indie films to something bigger. "Music Mash Up with John C. Reilly and Jonah Hill" (4 minutes) is an odd little short made for the internet in which the two actors improv their way through a musical improv. "Behind the Scenes at SXSW with Jay & Mark Duplass" (3 minutes) follows the brother through the film festival. "Fox Movie Channel Presents: In Character with John C. Reilly" (5 minutes) and "Fox Movie Channel Presents" In Character with Jonah Hill" (3 minutes) offers separate interviews with the two actors in which they talk about their characters. The final extra is the THEATRICAL TRAILER for the film.