Awards should be forthcoming on this one...

Rating: 9/10 (18 October 2003)

A great story and trophies should be in the offing. Brian Helgeland should get Best Screenplay and Best Adaptation consideration during awards season; Eastwood will be an easy pick and the sentimental favorite-even though his work merits any honor it should receive. On screen, Robbins and Penn will likely get nominations, though their being blowhards offscreen might trip them up in long haul. Still, none of that should matter when considering their work in Mystic River, because they both gave career performances. If I had to pick between the two, I would go with Robbins, because of his staid, disaffected affectation of a chronic victim. Penn, meanwhile, altered between being wonderful and a DeNiro indicator (what his fixation with Bobby D is, I'll never know but it often undoes his own greatness). Marcia Gay Harden will likely get consideration but I think this film was primarily a "guy flick." Laura Linney, like Penn, had moments but was uneven, seeming to struggle with a Boston brogue. In a fair world, Bacon and Lawrence Fishburne would also get consideration for their efforts, because they were fantastic in keeping the narrative moving. I don't like Robbins or Penn but their effort here made me forget my prejudice and watch them for what they really are: highly talented actors who were very lucky to get work on this great film. I just hope they remember that if their names are called during award ceremony and don't go off on some Michael Moore-esque rant. Finally, as great as many think this film is, it is not for everybody.