Wow! Such a good movie.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Quite a tour-de-force……not necessarily enjoyably, but dark, compelling and insightful. Gibson delivers a fantastic performance, in a role which could very easily have taken a left turn and ended up in a total mess. Ironically, Gibson's role is to play a total mess….Walter Black, whose life has spiraled downwards into chaos. In some ways the film is perhaps a bit labored – such as the need for it to so clearly draw parallels between the lives of the main protagonists. However, the gripping duel at the center of the movie - what's going on in Walter's addled head - is more than sufficient to carry the movie. It's a small cast, but all the actors (Foster, Yelchin and Lawrence) do a fine job. One's heart also goes out to Walter's young son, Henry (Riley Thomas Stuart) who is too young to truly grasp the magnitude of the "silent storm" that is ripping this family apart. And that is what this is all about – how one decent person's unresolved crisis can drive a relentless silent storm that destroys hope and creates carnage that may last generations. Count your blessings if you can detach, and watch this movie as a just a movie. My partner was deeply effected by this movie, as she could much more closely relate to some of the experiences it portrayed. At one point Walter gives a compelling insight into what's driving his need to assume his new persona, even if ultimately it's going to destroy the very family he loves. At this point my partner was literally floored, as it clarified some things that she'd experienced, but never been able to understand. VERY powerful stuff. It's not that often that a movie can tap so directly into what a person has experienced….and that's why this is, truly, such a great movie.

I saw this movie last night for the first time. I've done my best to remove any possible spoilers in this review. I had heard about it when it came out, and it had always been on my radar, so I finally made time to watch it. First off, I suspect we need to discuss Mel Gibson. If I recall, this was his first big movie after getting splattered across the press for some poor behavior, and the general movie-viewing public largely turned against him.Well, I am not here to comment on any off-screen antics, merely the movie and the talent involved. Mel Gibson is a tremendous actor. That statement is very well displayed in this movie. He is helped by a very strong supporting cast, and an interesting story about a subject that, overall, nobody is comfortable talking about or dealing with. Having read the trivia, I get why it took Jodie Foster awhile to get a backer for the movie because she did not want to change the ending. I found myself with a mix of thoughts on that - I side with Ms. Foster in not wanting to change the ending of the story, however I might have fought for changing how it was displayed/portrayed to the audience. Not that what she chose didn't work, it did, but I'm considering the overall 'feel' of the movie at that point. Honestly, from what I had remembered from the trailers, I thought this would be more comedic. It is still a serious subject matter, and there are comedic moments to be had, don't get me wrong! But this does lean very much more to the serious side. It of course also includes a few other sub-plots to round out the overall story - the two children provide their own personalities and issues that need to be dealt with; and the wife trying to balance everything going on along with maintaining her own responsibilities as well as sanity is expertly done by Ms. Foster. And the end makes sense, ultimately. And it provides some things the story needs to tie things up, and to make it a movie worth watching, albeit a bit...tragically? Or at the least, unfortunately. I do recommend watching The Beaver. While it includes Mel Gibson, and dear readers I semi-understand those that won't watch anything with him in it, but remember he's not the only person in it. :-) It does deal with the very serious subject of depression, and is well worth the watch.

It is about Walter Black, who copes with depression by speaking in a Cockney accent through a beaver hand puppet that he affixes to his left hand and leaves on at all times-whether Walter is in the shower, at the office or having sex. The movie's name and plot generate all sorts of connotations, and none of them suggest what the film actually is: A delicately told, insightful drama about metal illness that stand as one of the biggest, best surprises of 2011.Something that was not a surprise, however, is how few people found out first-hand what an unexpected marvel they were overlooking. Aside from its name and subject mater, The Beaver had another major road block in its box office outlook: Mel Gibson. So much of an actor's career relies on likability, and the Oscar-winning actor did not help himself in that department by having numerous, widely-covered incidents that suggest he is an angry, homophobic Anti-Semite. Those characteristics have made some people want to have nothing to do with him of his work, no matter what the movie.If people are ever willing to give Gibson another chance on-scree, The Beaver is the time to do it. Gibson gives on of his best performances as Walter, who opens the movie floating on a raft in a pool but does not look relaxed. Walter looks drained. This is not a man who has thrived in the two years he has worked as head honcho of his dad's toy company, since his father's suicide. He has been worn down by a job for which he was ill-prepared and that has driven him to a state of depression which has alienated his sons Porter and Henry, and left his wife Meredith wondering if the man she loves will ever return to the way he used to be. Cue the title character, a hand puppet that Walter spots in a dumpster, and, for whatever reason, feels compelled to pick up and put on his hand. It does not stop Walter from trying to hang himself from a shower rod in a hotel after he leaves his house, but, after that suicide attempt doesn't work, Walter's attempt to jump from his hotel balcony is thwarted when the beaver talks to him. Of course, that is Walter talking for the beaver, who, in the aforementioned accent, tell Walter that he is here to save his "god-damn life." Foster's direction and Kyle Killen's script treat this very unusual situation with exactly the right tone: What begins with the slightest bit of humour, as Walter cheerfully speaks only through the beaver and Henry delights in spending time with both, quickly becomes far more serious and urgent as the family accepts that this is really happening. Some mild comfort comes from the index card that Walter provides, explaining that the beaver is actually a prescription puppet as recommended by a mental health professional in order to establish a psychological distance between Walter and negative aspects of his personality. Too bad the card is a lie, and Walter actually has not been to see a doctor in more than a year.As all of this is happening, Porter continues to chart all the ways in which he is like his father in an effort to then eliminate them from his life. While many teenagers feel detached from and annoyed by their parents, Porter hates his father for the things that Porter hates about himself. The adds even more weight to Walter's struggle to regain his mental health and perhaps reestablish a bond with his firs-born. Until the, Porter is occupied by his commissioned task to write a graduation speech for the valedictorian Norah, who feels she does not know what to say or how to say it. The fact that she is beautiful increases Porter's interest in helping her, even though she also agrees to pay him $500 for the job. Though some viewers may doubt the progression of Porter and Norah's relationship, it is actually an intelligently crafted dynamic between a girl with bottled-up emotions and a guy who is bold and articulate enough to help her release a huge weight from her shoulders.Perhaps it is a stretch that Henry's excitement about the beaver inspires Walter to develop a new, company-saving kid's toy, which in reality might not even be moderately successful. Walter's colleagues' lack of protest about their boss' new style also seems far-fetched. The achievement of The Beaver, however, is not necessarily in crafting an air-tight realistic story. It is about chronicling the way that depression eats away at the self and that person's support system-this is reiterated in that the Blacks' house is literally falling apart, a metaphor that is a bit too obvious. One of the reasons depression can be hard to recognise is the same reason it is hard to portray on screen: This is an illness that is very hard to identify based on physical changes. Yet Gibson and the film dare to acknowledge the anguished emptiness that comes from depression and the lack of easy answers. Meredith tells Walter she needs to know that his old self is going to come back, and she even shows him photos of their 20th anniversary dinner to try to help him remember how happy their lives used to be. The beaver, dressed in a tiny, custom-made tuxedo of his own, is not having it. He reminds Meredith that Walter does not have amnesia, he has depression. It is a sickness that can not be fixed by flipping a switch, but it is one that can be better understood through daring films like The Beaver, whose blissful last scene is a fantasy of the way a person with mental illness, or a person who loves a person with mental illness, dream their lives might someday be again.

When I encountered this movie it was promoted as a "dark comedy". It is not that. It fails completely at that. You may tell me that Jodi Foster didn't intend it as a comedy. That may well be, but that is how it was pitched to get me to try it. It's unfunny and disappointing on that score.As a portrait of people with emotional problems (most of the characters) it also fails. Mel Gibson's character gets substantial examination but the others are shorthand movie clichés. Overall, I never believe that Walter believes he needs this puppet device.Plus to whoever wrote the score, that does help get across the message that the actor performances don't, but the movie still doesn't get to the goal line.