Excellent Film with One Minor Flaw

Rating: 9/10 (25 October 2003)

I did not read the Dennis Lahane book, so my viewpoint of "Mystic River" is drawn strictly from the film itself. It is one of the best films I have seen this year, with an excellent script and direction, and high quality performances by the cast. My one quibble with the film is the lack of development Jimmy's wife, played by Laura Linney. In general, character development is a strength of this film, with Jimmy, Sean, Dave and Celeste fully fleshed out. Since I did not read the book, I am not sure if the character of Jimmy's wife is better defined in the book, but I needed one more scene before her final scene with Jimmy to help me to understand her better. I needed a scene which showed that she felt like she was losing her family to Jimmy's obsession with finding his daughter's killer, and expressing those feelings directly to Jimmy. No foundation was laid for her subsequent acceptance, and even encouragement, of his decision to "do whatever is necessary". Had I been editing the film, I would have beefed up Linney's character and dumped the story line with Sean's wife, which did not necessarily provide much insight into Sean's character. I was perfectly happy to believe that he was a dutiful if not somewhat distracted cop, and did not need the scenes with his wife to support that. I can only assume these scenes were added to provide at least some semblance of a happy ending in what was otherwise a decidedly tragic film. 9/10