A disappointment considering the book

Rating: Null/10 (8 November 2003)

I'd been looking forward to the adaptation of Dennis LeHane's novel ever since I heard of the superb director/cast lineup. But it missed for me in capturing the spirit of the book. Sean Penn was excellent and deserves an Oscar nod; Kevin Bacon, Laura Linney and Marcia Gay Harden also turned in fine work (as did Laurence Fishburne although he had far less to do.)
****SPOILER ALERT***
My real problem was with Tim Robbins' portrayal of Dave. In the book, although the character is tormented by his past, on the surface at least at the beginning he seems to have pulled it together enough to get married and have a child. His disintegration as the result of confronting that past is much more powerful on paper because the reader is in the character's head. While a good actor (which Tim Robbins certainly is most times) can externalize those changes, from the first time the adult Dave appeared onscreen, he appeared burned out and twitchy, so much so that you can't imagine his wife ever marrying him. Furthermore I don't think the movie did much with the true horrific twist of the book in exploring Dave's motivations to attack the child molester, which made more believable (in the novel) his later failure to save himself in the confrontation with Jimmy (instead accepting blame for something he didn't in fact do).
Much of the strength of the movie comes from the original writing. I just wish the film had done justice to all of it.