I'm from Boston and work in the city but I just watched this movie yesterday for the first time. Several reasons for that; I don't care for movies about criminals and this partly has that aspect to it. I also don't like the way Hollywood depicts neighborhoods of Boston being populated only be uneducated white trash losers. Do they exist, sure, but they're a very small part of Boston and yet that's all that anyone in Hollywood seems to know about the city. And I realize this movie is from a novel by Dennis Lehane who is from here too and Mr. Lehane can write about anything he wants. I'm just pretty tired of it. I haven't read Lehane's books for that very reason.
But I finally did watch it and to be honest I wish I had trusted my initial instincts and continued to pass on it. It's a depressing dysfunctional story that I really didn't need to see. From my point of view this movie has absolutely no redeeming qualities. Not a single character is likable or sympathetic, I honestly didn't care about any of them Not to mention two hours of watching Sean Penn chew up scenery and overact until I thought his head would explode. The last movie I liked Penn in was Racing With the Moon and that was a very long time ago. He is such an over-rated actor.
Kevin Bacon was just ok, I've seen him do much better in other movies. The rest of the actors were just ok with the exception of Laura Linney who with one or two scenes nailed the portrait of a psychotic wife who was probably one of the scariest characters in the film. Kudos to her at least.
A lot of Clint Eastwood directed movies are dark and not very much fun to watch, Million Dollar Baby comes to mind. And I know what he's trying to do and the messages he's trying to get across...he just went way overboard here. I will say that it's well directed and filmed, and those are the only two good things I can say about it.
This movie has no redeeming qualities that I could see but hey, if you're looking for something to watch on a Saturday night and think your life is just a little bit too happy and you're feeling a tad too good about yourself then watch Mystic River; it will depress the hell out of you in no time at all.
But I finally did watch it and to be honest I wish I had trusted my initial instincts and continued to pass on it. It's a depressing dysfunctional story that I really didn't need to see. From my point of view this movie has absolutely no redeeming qualities. Not a single character is likable or sympathetic, I honestly didn't care about any of them Not to mention two hours of watching Sean Penn chew up scenery and overact until I thought his head would explode. The last movie I liked Penn in was Racing With the Moon and that was a very long time ago. He is such an over-rated actor.
Kevin Bacon was just ok, I've seen him do much better in other movies. The rest of the actors were just ok with the exception of Laura Linney who with one or two scenes nailed the portrait of a psychotic wife who was probably one of the scariest characters in the film. Kudos to her at least.
A lot of Clint Eastwood directed movies are dark and not very much fun to watch, Million Dollar Baby comes to mind. And I know what he's trying to do and the messages he's trying to get across...he just went way overboard here. I will say that it's well directed and filmed, and those are the only two good things I can say about it.
This movie has no redeeming qualities that I could see but hey, if you're looking for something to watch on a Saturday night and think your life is just a little bit too happy and you're feeling a tad too good about yourself then watch Mystic River; it will depress the hell out of you in no time at all.
