quite a few weaknesses - POSSIBLE SPOILER

Rating: 3/10 (21 October 2003)

This movie has a number of weaknesses. Kevin Bacon in a pivotal role is way outclassed by everyone else. Robbins gives the standout performance, but because Penn's is the flashier role - and he does it very well - he's getting all the raves. Marcia Gay Harden is likewise excellent, and the two-hander scenes between any of those three are the redeeming features of the movie. Linney's and Fishburne's considerable talents are wasted. The screenplay is often clunky - those plodding cop scenes between Bacon and Fishburne are almost insulting, the tough-guy conversations between Penn and his henchmen are cliche-ridden, and the whole final section - events in and around the parade - redundant. The double climax needs a much more sophisticated approach than Mr Eastwood gives it, although the screenplay is perhaps the villain here. All in all, this is way behind UNFORGIVEN as an achievement, although a better stab at the genre than his MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL.