Unbelievably disappointing, over praised and ridiculous!

Rating: 1/10 (11 December 2003)

"Mystic River" has received rave reviews around the world. It's been called one of the best pictures of the year and it's likely to get the Oscar. Why? I'd say it's because "Mystic River' with its fake power fooled people and critics as usually bad movies do. The perfect example is `A Beautiful Mind', `Forrest Gump', "Titanic", etc. `Mystic River' is fake and disappointing. Aside from the predictability and triviality, I found the acting unconvincing.
I can honestly say that "Mystic River" is one of the worst movies I've ever seen in my life. It pretends to be so moving, dramatic and powerful, but it fails in all counts.
`Mystic River' tells the story of three men who had a difficult childhood. One of them was `supposedly' raped, and the others had different problems. As time went on, one of them had problems with his missing wife and the other with penal antecedents.
Let's begin by the countless mistakes: 1. At the beginning of the movie we see these three men in their childhood. 25 years go by, but the characters look terribly old, especially Sean Penn's. It's ridiculous they'd get so old, while Kevin Bacon's character looks rather young. In fact much younger than his friends.
2. The movie is overdone. There wasn't a scene that I found powerful or completely believable. Sean Penn is annoying. His performance is over the top, without his showing any real feelings. He tries so hard and makes it what it is `A mess'.
3. Tim Robbins also overacts. He is too ridiculous and his lack of seriousness as an actor is evident. He was `supposedly' abused as a child, but eventually he marries and has a child. He keeps his frustration inside himself, but then he shows his anger by killing a man who was abusing another child. That's too much easy and farfetched. Oddly enough it happens the same day, in which Penn's character's daughter is brutally killed.
4. The wives are completely disagreeable. They just keep sobbing and hugging each other making this an annoying flick. I'd have felt for them, but the story is so contrived and pointless that it's hard to do so.
5. The score is dull and lacks liveliness or even a dramatic touch to make it at least more powerful, but it's the same foolish music over and over again.
6. Kevin Bacon's character is a waste of time. I don't see the point of his being in the movie at all. The whole movie would've been the same without his presence. It's contrived that he's a murder investigator and that he has a missing wife with a child and at the ending they just appear again like a fairy tale.
7. The ending is terribly weak, predictable, bad and laughable. It left me with the feeling as if it were good to take the law into your hands and kill the suspects of the murder of your daughter, and then feel proud of doing so. Then at a parade Kevin Bacon's character with his wife and child happily smiles at Mr. Penn's character. It's just corny and completely annoying. In a way it reminds me of the triviality of `The Hours', but in a masculine version. They are both disappointing and gushy and they're both over praised.
`Mystic River' without a doubt is a huge disappointing. The fact that it was shot in 39 days says so. It was a haste effort with no depth and accuracy looking contrived and unbelievably trite. 3/10