Vampires and werewolves

Rating: Null/10 (4 October 2004)

Okay but unmemorable thriller about Sean Penn's character trying to find out who murdered his obnoxious teenage daughter (Emmy Rossum) and learning to deal with life after her death. Tim Robbins plays a tortured ex-friend of Penn's and Kevin Bacon plays another former friend of Penn's who is now a cop working with Laurence Fishburne to find the killer, and all the evidence points to the long-suffering Robbins character, who was once molested by two weirdos as a little kid. But is he the killer?
You know it tries hard, but it never really comes together the way it should. I've always felt that Sean Penn was a bit over-rated as well as smug and off-putting; I thought he was good here but I don't think he necessarily deserved the best actor Oscar for it.
On the other hand, its a nice change of pace to see Kevin Bacon playing a character who isn't in smarmy super-jerk mode.