Get Outta Town

Rating: 3/10 (12 December 2010)

Get Outta Town Let me start withI wasn't a big fan of The Departed, and I liked American Gangster a whole lot less. Both seemed to try and grab the Oscar, and hard, e.g. trying too desperately. Granted, Departed won it (thanks Jack) but I generally don't favor movie's only motive is for awards. (Or actors, such as Denzel Washington.)
That all said, I'm not sure The Town was set out to grab any awards, though I'm sure with 100 best picture nominations (okay, 10, but still) it's sure to get a nod. That's not saying too much since 2010 basically sucked and I would be racking my brain to come up with 10, let alone 100.
And yet, The Town SHOULDN'T win anything. In fact, the only nominations I would approve (but not win, mind you) would be: Best Cinematography and Best Supporting Actor for the always impressive Jeremy Renner. The rest of the cast, or talent, barely would pass an audition, let alone get any consideration.
The worst part of the movie was the over-used and well-done tired plot, including the infamous LIE subplot involving the laughable Ben Affleck and his honey, Rebecca Hall. The story, co-written by the lesser Affleck (Casey is just so much better) isn't anything new and brought little to the table.
OK, so we have ho-hum and very little depth bank robbers who wear disguises and/or forget to shave – shocking trickery! – who pull off their latest but must take (and eventually release) the manager, Claire (Hall) and in their suspicion, lead robber, Doug (Affleck) follows her once the "heat" is over. Naturally and completely unsurprisingly, he falls for her.
I'll pause a momenthere's where I prove how bad Affleck was in both acting and (co-)writing: he asks her a dozen or more questions on what she remembers or who's been talking to her. Maybe I'm being cynical, but she's pretty dumb, naïve, scared or just a plain idiot not to see why he's asking so many questions.
Fine, not everyone can put two'n'two together, but you'll have to get ahead of that plot hole to move on to the others.
The FBI knows whodunit, but they need to prove it or get a witness tonail them! Sorry, needed to put emphasis on that, because the movie asks, er, begs, you to have some urgency even though we know everyone's on the same page. Oh, and when Doug's being interrogated, let me say this: He ain't Keyser Söze. Hell, he ain't even the Joker. It would be more interesting to see the interrogation scene from Marathon Man, and if only I could play the dentist hovering over Affleck asking "Do you think you're safe?"
Let's move on to the other obvious and clichéd plot of DougieBoy wanting to do his "last robbery" and start fresh inin Florida? Anyways, if they brought anything to the table that hasn't been done before in the countless "I'm getting too old for this sh|t" retirement bits (SEE: Lethal Weapon One, Two, Three), I might have given a sh|t myself.
I'm not going to spoil anything else, but to say: they try to unsuccessfully sneak some character depth to the story (The FBI agent that won't give up!, The Mother & Child who also want out!, The Mob won't let him go!) The positives about the film was, again, Renner, who wasn't on top of his game – nowhere near, but still good to watch and the striking, though formulaic views of Boston. Honestly, I don't mind scenic aerial shots of cities, or on the ground and in unfamiliar neighborhoods of cities. So, I did like how the film was shot.
Unfortunately, it was always ended with a close up of the Dudley-Do-Wrong mug of Affleck. Buzz kill.
You have no one to root for. No depth of the characters other than what's spoken and not shown. You have nothing new under the Boston sun. And you have no reason to subject yourself with dozens of other already made, already better film versions of The Town. SKIP!