Not Bad, But Overrated

Rating: 6/10 (21 October 2003)

If I had just come across this movie on TV, I probably would have liked it. But with all the Oscar buzz and four-star reviews I expected something better. The story is about three guys in Boston: Dave, Sean, and Jimmy. They were best friends until about the age of 12, when Dave (who grows up to be Tim Robbins) was kidnapped by pedophiles masking as cops. This, I thought, was the best part of the movie. Sadly it's the first few minutes.
Cut to 25 years later, when Jimmy's (Sean Penn) daughter is murdered. Dave, who despite having a wife (Marcia Gay Harden) and son is still in a regressed state from his horrific childhood experience, begins to attract his wife's suspicion. He shows up after the murder with blood on his clothes, claiming to have fought off a mugger. Sean (Kevin Bacon) has become a cop and of course is assigned to the case. The main suspect, besides Robbins, is the murdered girl's boyfriend (Tom Guiry). But Sean's partner "Whitey" (Laurence Fishburne) starts to look suspiciously at Dave instead.
There's all sorts of other stuff too; mob connections and old grudges and, believe it or not, a couple of mute characters. Too long to explain here. As for the acting: Penn is very good at parts and terribly over the top in others. Watch him react to his daughter's death and see if he doesn't remind you of his retarded character in "I Am Sam." Robbins mostly does well, but overacts at times. He gives a good sense of Dave's arrested development, except where the script requires him to be suddenly cunning or insightful. Bacon and Fishburne both do good subtle work with trite "cop buddy movie" dialogue. Harden is moving at times but too one-note. Guiry does well, especially towards the end.
The biggest waste is Laura Linney, as Jimmy's second wife, the murdered girl's stepmother. She is barely in the film until the end, when she makes a big Lady Macbeth-like speech. I hope the screenwriter, Brian Helgeland, didn't see that as a subtle allusion. Eastwood does a good job with setting and pacing, but could have directed his actors better.
There were several moments here that clearly weren't intended to be funny, but provoked a fair amount of laughter in the theatre. Be forewarned: if someone's making a moral decision in this film, you can bet there's a cross nearby. It's that kind of picture.
Conclusion: It might be worth seeing, but wait for video. 6/10