Overblown, overlong; great role for Casey Affleck

Rating: 7/10 (30 September 2007)

New Zealander Andrew Dominik's 'Chopper'(2000) had Eric Bana very effective in the biopic of a famous Australian criminal. This overblown, overlong, pseudo-arty rehash (with intermittent fake-antique "refracted" camera-work) of Jesse James's last days has been admired and hated. Brad Pitt got the Venice Film Festival's Best Actor award. In fact Pitt lacks the presence needed here to make his role interesting. Casey Affleck, with his embarrassing faux-naïve eagerness, is the one who holds the screen. With this and the upcoming movie brother Ben has debut-directed with him as the star ('Gone, Baby, Gone' from a novel by 'Mystic River' author Denis Lehane), he may be moving up to major roles, so that's the most noteworthy thing abut this otherwise misfired effort. Sam Rockwell, Sam Shepherd and others are wasted in scenes and conversations that ramble on and never make much sense. The Seventies-style quirkiness isn't backed up by solid ideas, and at over two and a half hours, this is a long, tedious slog to sit through.