Starring John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, and Jonah Hill. Rated PG. Opens Friday, July 2, at the Fifth Avenue Cinemas

The drama of Oedipus is played out as painfully funny farce in Cyrus, one of the best and most surprising movies of the year.

The film has unexpected plot developments, and it’s a big step up for brothers Jay and Mark Duplass, previously known for no-budget “mumblecore” items like Baghead and The Puffy Chair. Okay, the new movie still looks like crap—one of these days, the bros will hire a lighting designer—but the acting is so sharp that it hardly matters.

Indie fave John C. Reilly plays a film editor, also named John, who’s been in a tailspin since even before his ex-wife (Catherine Keener) dumped him. She drags him out of his L.A. hovel to a low-key party where he meets sexy free spirit Molly (Marisa Tomei, at her most delightful), who doesn’t mind his bumbling ways. “I’m like Shrek in the woods,” he admits, while pissing in the front yard.

At first you wonder why such a hot mama would hook up with this gentle ogre, but it’s soon revealed that Molly has some unresolved issues of her own—especially a literally huge issue from 21 years earlier, called Cyrus and still very much living at home. Here, to match the deceptive naturalism of the other leads, size-large Jonah Hill cannily dials down the smart-ass aggression he brought to Get Him to the Greek and various Judd Apatow efforts. Cyrus, however, is not quite as easygoing as he first appears.

The movie resembles Noah Baumbach’s Greenberg, in which Mark Duplass had a small role. But that recent Ben Stiller vehicle, also about a smart guy stuck in the ’80s, was a far more misanthropic affair. While not blind to human cruelty, Cyrus sees it with a mother’s understanding—and a serious sense of humour.