“We wanted to finally give John C. Reilly his big romantic leading role, which we’ve been wanting to see him in for years,” said director Mark Duplass during a Q&A about his new film “Cyrus.” The film, co-written and directed with his brother Jay Duplass, premiered at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival this past Friday. In addition to showcasing the talents of Reilly, this funny and surprisingly charming film also boasts solid acting work from Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill, in the titular role.

John C. Reilly does not disappoint, and proves to be a likable and effective leading man, while still utilizing the comedic chops he has come to be known for. He portrays John (the filmmakers confirmed his naming was not a coincidence), a man in a self-proclaimed “tailspin” who was divorced by his wife (Catherine Keener) seven years ago and still hasn’t quite recovered, even though the two remain friends. After embarrassing himself several times at a party, John meets Molly (Tomei) and the two immediately fall for each other. Everything seems to be going great until John meets Molly’s son Cyrus (Hill), an eccentric (to say the least) 21-year old who still lives at home with Molly and shares an unusually close relationship with her. Naturally, this relationship curveball begins to complicate things for John and Molly.

Normally known for his more vulgar and outlandish work, Jonah Hill does a great job of keeping Cyrus subtle and grounded in what could have easily been an over the top role. All along, it is very clear that something is wrong with the kid, but is he truly messed up or is he just playing a game to drive John away from his mom? Hill’s performance makes it seem as if Cyrus isn’t even sure sometimes. The scenes of these two characters trying to one up each other become some of the highlights of the film.

As for Tomei, she plays Molly as a sweet and tender woman who has grown so close to her son that she is oblivious of his seemingly conniving attempts to steal attention away from her relationship with John. Her chemistry with Reilly is strong, and she deserves credit for helping make his first “big romantic leading role” a success.

While the film is something of a small triumph in the acting and writing departments, it is not without a few flaws. The camera work tries a bit too hard to obtain the “raw documentary” feel that has already become something of a cliché in modern indie cinema, often employing distracting and unnecessary snap zooms in the middle of a scene.

The Duplass Brothers, whose previous work includes the super low budget efforts “The Puffy Chair” and “Bighead,” could have benefited from leaving some of their mumble core aesthetics behind in their first studio film. Luckily, the characters and performances are strong enough to overlook some of the other flaws in “Cyrus.”

During the brief Q & A after the screening, Mark Duplass also talked about the inspiration behind the Molly and Cyrus relationship.

“Unfortunately, we learned after about two weeks of press where it came from, and we realized that it’s basically me and Jay,” Duplass said. “It’s about that impenetrable relationship that’s very hard to find your way into. We realized in our teens and our twenties that a lot of our friends and girlfriends had a really hard time finding their way into our strange little brother caveman speak, and it was very funny and kind of tragic to watch.”

“Cyrus” does a successful job of turning that type of relationship into a film that is indeed very funny and, while not exactly tragic to watch, does find time to work in some deep and poignant moments.