Gibson shines in 'The Beaver'

Jodie Foster's new film, 'The Beaver', was supposed to be the first step in Mel Gibson's "comeback," but in terms of character it's actually a throwback to the slapstick roles he's played in the past.

His protagonist Walter Black is a troubled man with a unique predicament that lends itself to plenty of meditative moments, but he portrays the sad sack in a darkly comic manner (much like his devil-may-care L.A. cop Martin Riggs, whose arrogance and cavalier attitude was as outrageous a coping mechanism as the titular animal in this film).