Insensitive, irresponsible movie

Rating: 3/10 (19 June 2004)

What begins as a taut murder mystery with intricate underpinnings of character conflict quickly becomes a power-play amongst East Coast neighborhood tough guys and "the women who stand by them". After Sean Penn's daughter is killed, the police investigation coincides with Penn's vengeful path, culminating in a scene along the waterfront with Tim Robbins that was so predictable (and so belabored by the director, Clint Eastwood) that I had to fast-forward through it. The only character worth caring about is Marcia Gay Harden's sad sack spouse; projecting a distaff variation on the household cuckold, Harden does amazingly well with a role that is one-dimensional by screen writing standards--her only weak scene comes when husband Tim Robbins, drunk and babbling about the past, elicits nothing more than a round-mouthed look of concern. The film is done up in stylish steely blue-grays and features big scenes for the cast members, but I thought Sean Penn's quietest moments (his "throwaways", if you will) were his best; his crying binge on the porch (with no visible tears) isn't really a scene at all in the emotional sense: it's just an actor's warm up. ** from ****