My kinda town

Rating: 8/10 (22 September 2010)

It works. Ben Affleck plays a likable robber. He personally doesn't seem to hurt anyone. The FBI agent played by Jon Hamm is a worthy antagonist, dedicated to his job. The real old villain gets his in the end, well the front end. Strong performances all around.
The heist scenes are the highlight, the exposition talk scenes were often tedious. In one case Ben the director was clever or lucky to have a guy sweeping the street in the background out the window.
The film requires more then average suspension of disbelief. Did they really need to take a hostage? Only for this story. The "uncle apartment" seemed like a line to get the girl into the bedroom but Ben needed the apartment toward the end for the view. Chris Cooper was wasted as his father with one dropped in prison talk scene. The AA like meeting that showed Ben a girl is more important then religion seemed to come out of nowhere.
Ben and his crew had access to masks, costumes, ambulances and weapons. They had super intelligence on the background and their victims that made everything too easy. The thick Boston accents that came and went sometimes needed sub titles to understand.
The movie is a tad too long but ties up into a neat package that is ultimately satisfying. See it.