The 5 Slept-On 2010 Movies To Watch Over Your Holiday Break

Got time to kill between Christmas and New Year's Day? Catch up on awesome films that not enough people saw this year.

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead


Not even the most obsessive of cinephiles can see every movie released in a given year. Seven 24-hour days per week just isn't enough time. Work kicks your ass during the Monday-through-Friday grind, and there are more important things to do on Friday and Saturday nights, like buying girls Patron shots. If you're like us, you'll squeeze in some matinees prior to the debauchery, but film junkies such as ourselves are the minority.

Sadly, many great flicks go unnoticed every year, whether overshadowed by huge studio blockbusters, dumped into four hole-in-the-wall theaters across the country, or released directly to DVD. We could recommend dozens of this year's overlooked films (several of them made Complex's list of the 25 best movies of 2010), but it's the holiday season—you're too busy working off those Christmas calories in family screaming matches to watch 20 flicks this week. So, to keep this more manageable, Complex gives you the five slept-on 2010 movies you should watch over your holiday break. It's our gift to you (and we promise it doesn't suck).

By Matt Barone

CYRUS
Director: Jay and Mark Duplass
Stars: John C. Reilly, Jonah Hill, Marisa Tomei
Synopsis: An awkward but warm-hearted divorcée (Reilly) meets the perfect woman (Tomei). Unfortunately, she has an overbearing, strange, and antagonistic son (Hill).
Why you should see it: While your friends gravitated towards louder and crasser comedies like Hot Tub Time Machine this year, the Duplass brothers' first foray out of traditional "mumblecore" provided smarter laughs in quieter ways. The appeal of Cyrus comes from how the brothers' entrust mumblecore's traits—low-budgets, improvised scenes that rely on humorous dialogue—to legitimate mainstream actors for a change. It's a wise move. The leads, particularly Reilly and Hill, are sharper than ever, dropping one-liners that sound funnier the longer they marinate in your head ("Seriously, don't fuck my mom."). If you want cheaper laughs, go rent a Kevin Smith flick, slacker.

Latest in Pop Culture