Master Rank #350

Green Book

2018

GCML Total8.7040% Greatness · 40% Engagement · 20% Ease

Directed by Peter Farrelly

CastViggo Mortensen · Mahershala Ali

USAEnglishDrama / Comedy130 minPG-13
IMDb Top 250Narrative FeatureModerate pace
Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List
Oscar · 3Globe · 3BAFTA · 1

Spoiler-free premise

A working-class driver accompanies a celebrated Black pianist on a concert tour through the American South.

Read expanded premiseLonger, still spoiler-free

In 1962, Bronx bouncer Tony Lip is hired to drive pianist Don Shirley on a concert tour through the American Midwest and South. A travel guide for Black motorists shapes their route while class, race, taste, and dependence complicate the job.

Why it belongs

In Green Book, Mortensen and Ali give the road comedy warmth through sharply different speech and behavior, even as the journey exposes unequal risk.

Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case

Concert halls, roadside diners, hotels, letters home, the Green Book, and changing car conversations create a clear social itinerary—Viggo Mortensen's expansive Tony and Mahershala Ali's exacting Shirley fashion rapport through friction and practical reliance.

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Double Feature