First Effort as director is just fair

Rating: 5/10 (1 August 2016)

Ben Affleck is an uniquely talented actor. His authenticity as an everyman is admirable, but his directorial debut needs a lot of work. While the substance for greatness (as in future projects) are there, but they have not been put all together yet. The east boston neighborhood and the characters Ben chose shows a lot of care. Ben generally gotten good performances from his actors, notably his brother, Casey in the main lead. The female lead is an exception. Michelle Monaghan did such a low key job in the midst of a gripping story, seems uninvolved, not something the script calls for. Perhaps the thought was to give Casey all the big moments. But I think a stronger female lead could add to the story. Now about the story, I admit it poses a strong moral dilemma but the way it played out was strange, and mostly directionless. There could have been 4 or 5 places the movie could have ended there. A more seasoned screen writer could have rendered a more competent and believable story, but Affleck spreaded himself too thin by being writer,director and producer at the same time. Ed Harris's talent is wasted as his character was dispensible. Morgan Freeman was almost dispensible, too. For first effort at directing, Ben has some work to do to make it to the same class as a Ken Howard. Speaking of directorial debut, go see "Play Misty for Me" by Clint Eastwood. He was great the first time out and been great ever since !