The title "St. Vincent" is ironic.

Vincent (Bill Murray) is the furthest person from a saint. He's an alcoholic. He's profane. He's gruff beyond belief to most everyone he meets. He has a smoke ring for a halo.And yet, there is, as we find out in the comedy-drama "St. Vincent," the heart of a saint beating beneath Vincent's thick geezer skin."St. Vincent" is a remarkable film by writer-director Theodore Melfi ("Winding Roads," 1999), which should bring Murray an Oscar nomination, the closest Hollywood gets to sainthood. Depending on the competition, including presumptive nominee Michael Keaton for "Birdman," Murray may get the gold, if not angel wings.Look for other Oscar nominations for this well-scripted, well-directed and well-acted film.In "St. Vincent," the life of Vincent (Murray) is disrupted when Maggie (Melissa McCarthy), a single mother, and her 12-year-old son, Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher) move into the single bungalow next door in the working-class neighborhood of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York.Oliver attends parochial school where the teacher is a priest, Brother Geraghty (Chris O'Dowd). Oliver is the new kid in school and is bullied by other boys.Maggie's job as a nurse at a hospital requires her to work long hours. Vincent becomes Oliver's babysitter and surrogate father figure.The father figure role includes taking the young boy with him to the Belmont horse racing track, a local dive bar, and teaching him how to box. Quite a father figure, right?Vincent's girlfriend, Daka (Naomi Watts), is pregnant. Vincent visits Sandy (Donna Mitchell) at a home for the elderly.Meanwhile, Vincent is dodging a bookie, Zucho (Terrence Howard), to whom he's indebted from years of bad bets at Belmont."St. Vincent," which is filmed in a very realistic style, deals with just about every contemporary social problem, or, to quote a cliché, issue: single parenthood, child custody, divorce, bullying, education, parenting, job security and working life, alcoholism, gambling, prostitution, adult entertainment, health and fitness, heart attacks, hospital care, and homes for the elderly. You name it, it's probably in the storyline.The problems are dealt with in a matter-of-fact manner, seldom in a heavy-handed way, with respect for each person, often with a bit of humor, and always with life-lessons.Without giving too much away, "St. Vincent" takes us through the underbelly of lower middle-class America, as represented by the main characters, and does so with compassion and grace.With "St. Vincent," Murray has found the right balance of comedy and tragedy. His characterization is so funny because it is so tragic."St. Vincent" represents Murray's best role since his Oscar-nominated actor role in director Sofia Coppola's "Lost In Translation" (2003). You'd have to go back to "Groundhog Day" (1993) to find Murray as so impactful.We know Murray as the "Saturday Night Live" funnyman (1977 - 1980) and for his wild humor in "Ghostbusters" (1984, 1989), "Stripes" (1981), "Caddyshack" (1980) and "Meatballs" (1979).Murray got burned, i.e., lambasted by critics, for his serious turn in the movie adaptation of the W. Somerset Maugham novel, "The Razor's Edge" (1984), and he seemed to shy away from lead roles. Mostly, Murray has kept to supporting roles with the notable exception of "Hyde Park On Hudson" (2012), in which he played FDR.Murray has mined his tripwire wild-man anger and been the go-to guy for droll fools in writer-director Wes Anderson ensemble comedies "Rushmore" (1998), "The Royal Tenenbaums" (2001), "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou" (2004), "The Darjeeling Limited" (2007) and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" (2014)."St. Vincent" also has fine performances by Jaeden Lieberher in his big-screen debut as Oliver. Lieberher is excellent and could get a supporting actor nomination.Melissa McCarthy is enjoyable as Maggie because she tones down her usual bombastic screen presence.Naomi Watts is great fun as Daka, the Russian-accented "lady of the night" with a heart of gold.Terrence Howard and Chris O'Dowd are solid in supporting roles."St. Vincent" should also bring original screenplay and director Oscar nominations for Theodore Melfi.If you're a Bill Murray fan, "St. Vincent" is a must-see.Or, if you want to see an example of real-life sainthood, consider "St. Vincent.""St. Vincent," MPAA Rated PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some Material May Be Inappropriate For Children Under 13.) for mature thematic material including sexual content, alcohol and tobacco use, and for language; Genre: Comedy: Run time: 1 hr. 42 min.; Distributed by The Weinstein Company.Credit Readers Anonymous: "St. Vincent" was filmed for a budget of only about $13 million on location in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, New York. During the closing scenes and credits for "St. Vincent," Bill Murray sings along to Bob Dylan's "Shelter From The Storm" from the album, "Blood On The Tracks" (1975).Box Office, Oct. 31: It was a dead-heat for the Halloween weekend with moviegoers holding on to "Ouija" to give the film a two week in a row No. 1, with $10.9 million, $34.9 million, two weeks, with "Nightcrawler," opening in a virtual tie at No. 1, with $10.9 million;3. "Fury," $9.1 million, $60.4 million, three weeks; 4. "Gone Girl," $8.8 million; $136.6 million, five weeks; 5. "The Book Of Life," $8.3 million, $40.5 million, three weeks; 6. "John Wick," $8 million, $27.5 million, two weeks; 7. "St. Vincent," $7.7 million, $19.5 million, four weeks; 8. "Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," $6.4 million, $53.6 million, four weeks; 9. "The Judge," $3. 4 million, $39.5 million, four weeks; 10. "Dracula Untold," $2.9 million, $52.8 million, four weeks;Unreel, Nov. 7:"Interstellar," PG-13: Christopher Nolan directs the science-fiction film about astronauts who make use of a "wormhole" on an interstellar voyage. Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain and Bill Irwin star."Big Hero 6," PG: A boy bonds with an inflatable robot. Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Jamie Chung and T.J. Miller provide the voice talent for the animated science fiction action comedy.Read Paul Willistein's movie reviews at the Lehigh Valley Press website, thelehighvalley-press.com; the Times-News website, tnonline.com; and hear them on "Lehigh Valley Art Salon," 6 - 6:30 p.m. Mondays, WDIY 88.1 FM, and wdiy.org, where they're archived. Email Paul Willistein: pwillistein@ tnonline.com. You can follow Paul Willistein on Twitter and friend Paul Willistein on facebook.Four Popcorn Boxes out of Five Popcorn Boxes