Hey - at least your life isn't so bad after all!

Rating: 8/10 (8 March 2004)

Welcome to Mystic River, where already-bad things go horribly array!
This movie is not in any way upbeat, I'll tell you that right now. It all begins with three neighborhood pals, Jimmy Markusm, Sean Devine and Dave Boyle. They're laughing, they're playing street hockey, they're writing their names in wet cement...and then a would-be cop shows up and drags Dave off in his car. We suspect something isn't right about this - and our instincts are correct. This is no cop, it's a child molester. Dave gets away a few days later but his life is never the same, and he (understandably) quits hanging out with Jimmy and Sean.
Fast forward about twenty-five years or so, and they are all grown up, still living in the same parts of Boston. Dave (Tim Robbins) is haunted by his childhood but trying to have a decent life with his wife Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden) and son. Jimmy is on his second marriage to Celeste's cousin Annabeth (Laura Linney) and has two daughters with her and an oldest, Katie, from his first marriage. And Sean (Kevin Bacon) spends most of his time on the job - he's a cop - with his partner Laurence Fishburn (strange, but cool). He's mostly in a funk because his wife left him.
So here's the deal. Katie Markum turns up missing. Dave was the last to see her. Dave comes home that night all bloody and disgusting and claims to have been mugged. The next morning, Sean and his cop squad are on the job tracking down Katie Markum, getting the heads up from her abandoned car. He finds her body and it ain't pretty. Jimmy flips out (just about the most powerful scene I've seen since...oh...21 Grams...Dead Man Walking...there's just something about Sean Penn, I'll tell ya) and vows to catch her killer. Isn't that Sean's job? You see the problems.
The good news? Three old friends are kind of reunited. The bad news? Dave doesn't exactly make a great case for himself, and things go from bad to worse fast. Sean is seemingly the glue that's supposed to hold everything together - Dave's insanity, Jimmy's rage...it's all just a huge mess and it's about to explode, as you can probably imagine.
There are a few plot problems here. When you learn who killed Katie and why, it just doesn't quite add up. Not to mention a very uncertain ending in which we're not sure who's guilty and who's going to jail and who's friends with who.
What you definitely have here are 3 great performances from Sean, Kevin, and Tim, as well as amazing support from the lovely Marcia & Laura - and a not-too-shabby job by good 'ole Laurence. It's a wonderful cast, and their individual intensities add up to a really hot ensemble. I like this movie, even though it's wickedly, heart-wrenchingly depressing. That's ok though - just remember - at least YOUR life isn't this bad! 4/5