Kiss of Death

Rating: 6/10 (31 May 2015)

I can't remember the guy's name, a radio commentator who is generally conservative, but more ferocious in his humor and delivery than a Limbaugh or a Hannity. Geez, I wish I could pull up his name. He was talking on air about how it's irrational to discount a performer's work if one finds his personal life and opinions offensive.
Ben Affleck is a flaming liberal. If he makes great movies, why would you say you hated his movies because you hate his public leftist dribbling. That was the commentator's point, and he was, in fact, talking about Affleck.
I think Ben Affleck is over-rated as an actor, but has a pretty good handle on directing a movie. That's cool. If he ever crashes and burns as an actor, he's got a backup plan.
Now, to bring this around to his The Town, an entertaining but predictable crime drama, set in Charlestown in Boston, and populated with characters you've seen before in other flicks--Kiss of Death (1947) and it's 1995 remake come to mind. Affleck has crafted a serviceable robbery crew/FBI/love story story. Nothing stood out except or two items of interest:
Jeremy Renner was one item. He breathes some life into an ordinary character (the violent friend of the protagonist).
The car chase at the start of The Town is so claustrophobic, with cops and crew careening down the narrowest streets this side of, say, Italy. I was actually dodging and weaving as the cars slammed and screeched down one street and onto another road.
There are lots of actors and actresses here who are so good, so comfortable in their respective roles. Affleck is the weary robber; Renner, his friend who believes that Affleck will always owe him for taking a fall for him; Rebecca Hall as the frail love interest who Affleck wants and Renner wants dead; Jon Hamm is the predictably vicious fed who went to the Richard Jordan School of How to Play a Repulsive Fed.
Did you get the reference to a better Boston crime drama?
The Friends of Eddie Coyle.
Which The Town isn't. It does hold it's own, delivering a satisfaction that lots of crime dramas can't or won't. I wasn't so much impressed with the movie as I was pleased that the 125 minutes I invested in Affleck's movie were not wasted.
Which brings me back to Affleck on screen, behind the camera, and making political poopoo in his occasional interview. So what if he's a dope in real life? His work works.
If I had my way, Jane Fonda would be rotting in Supermax for treason, but her performance in 1971's Klute was brilliant.
What's a movie-lover to do?
Oh, I got the name, I think! Adam Corolla (sp?).