Mystic River meets Who Will Love My Children

Rating: 7/10 (16 November 2007)

Director Ben Affleck and his brother Casey, having grown up on these mean streets, are obviously prosecuting this movie as a labor of love. Just as in Good Will Hunting and The Departed, you're immersed into this generally poor Irish-Catholic culture, with its combination of anti-intellectualism, artistic charm, and blind ruthlessness. When these people bear a grudge they really bear a grudge. Sam Peckinpah's movie Straw Dogs, though set in Ireland, also comes to mind. What GBG adds to the genre is basically an extremely well-written mystery that doesn't trick you but will probably surprise you, combined with great characterization particularly in the performance of Casey Affleck.
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Brian Wright Copyright 2007