What bad thing hasn't been said about the troubled actor Mel Gibson in the last 12 months? Woman beater? Racist? Anti-Semetic? Pig? How about great actor? Regardless of how you feel about Mel Gibson the person, there is no denying that Mel Gibson the actor is still pretty outstanding; his latest, the criminally underrated comedy-drama "The Beaver," proves his mettle as one of our great performers.

As directed by Jodie Foster, who also co-stars, "The Beaver" is a film that had little going for it in the area of promotion, and was virtually ignored at the box office; there's no doubt in my mind that Gibson's crazy personal life played a hand in the film's disappointing critical and box office performances. And that is not to say that this film is any way bad. In fact, it's actually quite good. Although its premise is actually quite ludicrous and should not succeed by any rational means (but this isn't a completely rational film) - Gibson stars as a depressed family man named Walter Black who can only express himself through a beaver hand-puppet - you have to turn on your suspension-of-disbelief button into maximum overdrive mode.

Foster plays his wife Meredith, who is forced to bear witness to a man who may be steadily losing his mind, along with her two sons - troubled high schooler Porter (Anton Yelchin) and kindergärtner Henry (Riley Thomas Stewart). Henry's young age allows him to freely accept Walter and "The Beaver," but Porter openly resents him. In a sub-plot, Porter is also behind a lucrative paper-writing scam that also brings him the attention of a pretty classmate named Norah (Jennifer Lawrence),who is not as straight-laced as she seems, either.

But the focus here is Mel Gibson. Whether he's Mel Gibson or "Mad Mel," it is entirely possible that like "The Beaver" does here, it may have allowed Gibson to seek some sort of therapy for his troubling personal issues. I'm fairly certain he's not the first screwed-up actor in Hollywood to seek therapy through an on-screen film role. In fact, whatever issues he may not be able to say himself, "The Beaver" hand-puppet allows him to say what's on his mind.

"The Beaver" is a good film, no more, no less, with a truly capable performance by Mel Gibson, who despite what you think of him, is still one of the great actors (still) working in Hollywood.

9/10

The theme of being alone, a common place item in Jodie Foster films, becomes over powering in this production. Walter Black (Mel Gibson) is married to Jodie, has two sons and is the CEO of a toy company. For some reason that is really never explained, he is extremely depressed and can't shake it no matter what he does. At a critical moment with his neck tied to a shower curtain rod (guess how that works out) Walter is able to come out of his depression with the aid of a beaver puppet, he uses to project himself with a British accent.

At first it is cute and the family takes him back, but then it becomes old and creepy. Meanwhile Walter's son (Anton Yelchin) has his own issues. He is helping Norah (Jennifer Lawrence) write her valedictorian speech (she is also blond and a cheerleader) as she has issues too. This all-star cast turns the film into an insightful and original comedy-drama.

F-bomb, brief sex, no nudity.

Not that I was expecting to hate the film, the premise seemed interesting and I heard so many good things about it. I just haven't always been blown away by Mel Gibson, both as an actor and as a director. I needn't have worried here though, here in the Beaver he delivers a moving and compassionate performance, perhaps his best work in a while. Jodie Foster gets the comedy and tragedy of her character just right, and the support acting is solid with no real major glitches. The Beaver is filmed and directed beautifully, and has a good soundtrack and serves the tone of the film well and a compelling and emotional story. The characters also deserve credit, there are a lot of them, but The Beaver does well to give these characters credibility, heart and even complexity. The Beaver perhaps is not perfect, while most of the time the slow pace is necessary for the mood of the story and also to give credibility to the characters, there are moments where it does feel a little pedestrian. The dialogue is fine most of the time, with intelligent and moving lines, but about 15% of it feels contrived and underdeveloped. All in all though, a very good movie. 8/10 Bethany Cox