With saints like him, who needs sinners?

GETTING in touch with his inner grouch has never been a problem for Bill Murray, an actor whose onscreen characters and real-life persona can sometimes make it difficult for people to tell the difference. He's such a good fit for his role in St Vincent - about the unlikely friendship between a grumpy, irreverent old man and a young boy struggling to find his way in a new town - that it's hard to envisage anyone else in the part.

The main surprise here is that this is not a Wes Anderson film; Murray has made a habit of appearing in several of those. St Vincent may not be as quirky or elaborate as an Anderson-helmed movie but this is nevertheless a promising debut feature by Theodore Melfi, whose script calls for Murray to be sloppy, unshaven and equipped with an anti-social personality that masks something more complicated.

A foul mouth and some equally foul habits - smoking, drinking, gambling and corrupting young minds included - are all part of the deal with Vincent Mackenna (Murray), a retiree who has yet to meet a vice he doesn't like. His days are spent going to bars and race-horse tracks, and he also has regular Tuesday sessions with a pregnant Russian prostitute named Daka (Naomi Watts).