“Theodore Melfi‘s St. Vincent is an emotionally engaging, nicely-crafted, perfectly agreeable dysfunctional family dramedy set in…where is it, Sheepshead Bay? And good old Bill Murray‘s performance as Vincent, a retired, lazy-ass, less-than-hygenic boozer with a good heart, is a juicy role and roughly on par with his performances in Rushmore and Lost in Translation. The film isn’t quite substantial enough on its own terms to be Best Picture-nominated but it’s certainly good enough to not stand in the way of a possible Oscar nomination for Murray. It never lifted me out of the my chair but it’s nice, it’s fine…nothing to complain about. I enjoyed it. And it’s very agreeable to see Melissa McCarthy give a steady, focused, mid-tempo performance that doesn’t involve acting like a lower-middle-class slob. St. Vincent is basically a louche-goofball babysitting drama, and the 12 year-old kid (Jaeden Liberher) who more or less costars with Murray, is on-target also. Smart and mature, stands his ground, doesn’t ‘kid’ it up too much.” — from my 9.6 Toronto Film Festival mini-review.