Film review: West Side Story
Steven Spielberg’s ravishing remake of the classic 1961 musical

Joaquin Phoenix has played a succession of misfits, loners and oddballs in recent years, said Alistair Harkness in The Scotsman. But in C’mon C’mon he shows his extraordinary range by playing a regular guy – Johnny, a radio producer in New York who volunteers to look after his nine-year-old nephew Jesse (Woody Norman) while the boy’s mother deals with a family crisis. Eventually the pair hit the road, travelling everywhere from New York to New Orleans and Detroit, as Johnny records a documentary about children. The story is “essentially about a cute kid bonding with an emotionally stunted adult”, but director Mike Mills avoids the traps of this “mini-genre” by approaching his subject matter with “honesty, humour and a refusal to serve up easily resolved emotional problems”.
A story about love, and the tug of war between self-interest and selflessness, C’mon C’mon is a nice film about nice people, said Manohla Dargis in The New York Times, and “I feel almost bad” for not liking it more. Shot in shimmering black and white, it delivers “laughs, pinpricks of pain and storms of emotion” – and yet watching Johnny grope his way through his parenting duties starts to become “exasperating”, and to feel like a lesson in “enlightened gender roles”. Well, I loved it, said Tim Robey in The Daily Telegraph. Giving the “least pushy performance” of his career, Phoenix has “rarely been more relatable”; and he is brilliantly supported by Norman, “one of the most believable kids on screen in ages”. “Although it was shot before the pandemic, the grown-up anxieties of this story only have greater resonance because of all that Covid has wrought.”
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
The best film reboots of all-time
The Week Recommends Creativity and imagination are often required to breathe fresh life into old material
-
'More must be done'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Are masked ICE agents America's new secret police?
Today's Big Question Critics say masks undermine trust in law enforcement
-
The tourist flood in the Mediterranean: can it be stemmed?
Talking Point Finger-pointing at Airbnb or hotel owners obscures the root cause of overtourism in holiday hotspots: unmanageable demand
-
Thai fish pie with crispy turmeric potatoes recipe
The Week Recommends Tasty twist on the Lancashire hot pot is given a golden glow
-
Lovestuck: a 'warm-hearted' musical with a 'powerhouse score'
The Week Recommends Team behind the hit podcast My Dad Wrote a Porno have created a hilarious show about a disastrous viral Tinder date
-
Outrageous: glossy Mitford family drama is full of 'fun, fashion and froth'
The Week Recommends Adaptation of Mary Lovell's biography examines the scandalous lives of the aristocratic sisters
-
F1: The Movie – a fun but formulaic 'corporate tie-in'
Talking Point Brad Pitt stars as a washed up racing driver returning three decades after a near-fatal crash
-
Lost Boys: a 'sobering' journey to the heart of the manosphere
The Week Recommends James Bloodworth examines the 'cranks and hucksters' making money through 'masculine discontent'
-
6 productivity-ready homes with great offices
Feature Featuring an office with a gas fireplace in Oregon and a shared workspace with wraparound windows in Massachusetts
-
Critics' choice: Carrying the flag
Feature The best barbecue in town, Bradley Cooper's cheesesteak restaurant, and more