Powerful Film Transcends the Weaknesses

Rating: 8/10 (21 November 1998)

This film, and Edward Norton's performance, are so powerful that it almost makes you forget the weaknesses. One wonders what a really terrific director could have done with it! On the plus side: some really solid acting, including Edward Furlong, Bevery D'Angelo, Stacy Keach, Guy Cory, Ethan Suplee, and most striking because it is so understated, Elliot Gould as the mother's Jewish boyfriend. Other pluses: a different look at another kind of bigotry; the relationship between the brothers; the interplay between Norton & Cory; the powerful prison scenes. On the downside: the heavy handed music, the preachiness, Sweeney's cardboard character, the pretentiousness of some of the arty photography, etc. One does wonder what a better director (Spielberg, Scorcese) might have done with the film! Read Janet Maslin's review in the NY Times. She & I saw the same flick!