Very well-meaning, but sadly lacking artfulness

Rating: 6/10 (6 June 2010)

Everyone loves this flick, and I wanted it to wow me the way Million Dollar Baby did. But there are just too many holes in the acting, writing, and directing.
One of the biggest oversights in production were "gang" scenes where it appears that substandard actors were told to wing it. Boy, that sucks, and I can't tell you how much it pains me to see Eastwood letting that footage get edited in to something with his name on it.
And this, coupled with other scripted scenes with lousy writing, just down the flick for me.
Again: I really, really wanted this thing to work. It may be the perfect film to point to when you want to explain the inadequacy of best intentions in the face of oversights in realization.