Hugely Boring

Rating: 4/10 (23 February 2010)

I haven't liked all of Michael Mann's movies, but when I don't, it's usually because they're a hot mess ("Miami Vice" comes to mind) rather than because they're boring. Until now.
"Public Enemies" has no real conceivable reason for existing. It tells the story of John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) but feels like a warmed-over and irrelevant rehash of every gangster movie that's come before it. It suffers from a serious case of identity crisis. It doesn't know whether it wants to be a character study of Dillinger, a love story about the girl he brings with him on the lam (Marion Cotillard) or about the specifics of the investigation leading to his eventual murder outside of a Chicago movie theatre. It ends up not really being about any of these things and gives its actors, all good ones, nothing to do. It's a giant bore of a film, and a long one at that.
Much of the film reminded me of "Bonnie and Clyde," and made me wish I was watching that pretty much perfect movie instead of this one.
Grade: C