A tough call

Rating: 5/10 (16 October 2003)

This one's a tough call. On the one hand, it was a nearly perfect film; direction, acting, camera work, music, all as close to faultless as one could want.
On the other hand, there's the story. It's a gut-wrenching look at the lives of three men and their families in their darkest hours. Because the acting (especially Penn and Robbins) is so good, you do care about the characters. The story is well constructed with a beginning, a middle and an appropriate end. But there is nothing to be learned here, no redemption, no nuggets of wisdom to be had. Unlike the equally gut-wrenching "A Shop on Main Street" (to which I gave a 10), Mystic River is a story without a point. We left wondering why we had put ourselves through it. I wouldn't do it again.