Avoid this mess of a movie.

Rating: 3/10 (23 July 2009)

This movie was not good. Plainly put. I went to see this movie at Scarborough Town Centre on a Tuesday where the admission is only $5 (Tuesdays only) and i still regret wasting my money, but mostly my time.
Where the movie falls short is in the writing/directing. The actors all do a fine job. Depp portrays Dillinger proficiently. Bale portrays Purvis adequately, but a surprise for me was Billy Crudup as J. Edgar Hoover, where the voice impersonation really brought me back to the 1930s. The main actress in the movie, Marion Cotillard, was poorly placed and should not have been in this movie. She is a french actress (in real life) and her french accent is clearly present throughout the movie (though she does try to mask it, but very very poorly) and I found it to be extremely annoying and distracting. She does explain that she is part french in the movie itself as a way of excusing said accent. But why go through the trouble? The director should have just gotten an American actress, or someone who could speak with an American accent appropriately.
There is a slew of actors and actresses you will recognize from across the entertainment spectrum. Being an Entourage fan I was pleased to see Dom and Nika Marx if only for a few scenes.
Overall the movie felt bland, it did not register with me on any emotional level. As a gangster flick it did not glorify the gangster lifestyle that the whole Dillinger posse indulged in, like in Blow or Goodfellas or Scarface and the love story was particularly lame, showing Dillinger falling head over heals over a girl he met in a restaurant and then sacrificing life and limb to be with her. If this was really the case with Dillinger in real life he must have really had some psychological issues.
What else should I add? Oh the best part of this movie, the kickass guitar pieces (which reminded me of the Firefly soundtrack), which really jazzed up the scenes they were present in, but these scenes were few and far between and the film would have been way better if they included it more. There was not much background music throughout the movie actually which is what kind of made it feel bland.
If you are a Depp/Bale/Crudup fan then see this movie. If not then don't, save your money and wait until its available out of cinemas. Trust me guys I know movies and this one was just not good. Hell I registered on this website just to write this review to warn you guys.
Dustin's verdict: Don't see.