C'mon C'mon (2021)

IMDb plot summary: When his sister asks him to look after her son, a radio journalist embarks on a cross-country trip with his energetic nephew to show him life away from Los Angeles.

Directed by Mike Mills. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffmann, and Woody Norman.

C'mon C'mon stars Joaquin Phoenix as a radio/podcast journalist who ends up caring for his young nephew while Phoenix's sister tries to persuade her mentally ill husband to get help. The boy follows Phoenix around as he travels, interviewing children and teenagers about how they see the world, and the two form a bond. I'm a little startled this didn't get many Oscar nods, as it feels like the absolute height of solid Oscarbait. That isn't meant as an insult or to be dismissive -- it's mostly a compliment that means all the pieces of this work well together, and that I feel there's something to be gotten here, but it isn't for me. Maybe it's that I am already tired of the trope of "child teaches middle-aged white man about life" and it's hard for me to pull out what makes this one better than the rest, if in fact it is. I don't really have any qualms with it, I just don't think anything about it at all, and that makes it incredibly difficult to review. It's just kind of... there.

How it entered my Flickchart:

C'mon C'mon < Fahrenheit 451

C'mon C'mon > My Friend Irma

C'mon C'mon > Sullivan's Travels

C'mon C'mon > Get Shorty

C'mon C'mon > Senna

C'mon C'mon > After the Wedding

C'mon C'mon > Safety Not Guaranteed

C'mon C'mon > Le Week-End

C'mon C'mon > The Elephant Man

C'mon C'mon > A Chorus of Disapproval

C'mon C'mon > Arctic

C'mon C'mon < The Misfits

Final spot: #1789 out of 3573, or 50%.