I'm Guessing I'm The Only One Who Liked This Movie Then...
Big departure for Burns as a director. I was impressed.
No one else?
Impressed? Really?
I like Edward Burns as an actor and a writer/director, but this movie was a stinker from the first scene.
I'll just mention 3 things that bothered me the most about the story:
1. In the first scene, the guys are plotting to kill Francis in the bar where Elijah Wood's character is tending bar. One (or more, it's been a while since I saw the movie) of the would-be assassins is a local guy who MUST SURELY KNOW that he is discussing the murder of the bartender's brother within earshot of the bartender! Obviously, he's going to take some kind of action when he hears that they are planning to kill his brother.
2. What moron would grow up in a tight-knit community like that, leave for only 3 years, then come back and have drinks at a bar where he knows people and expect that no one will recognize him? It's ridiculous.
3. There are a couple of scenes where the brothers talk about their childhood. I don't know what age Francis was supposed to be, but Elijah Wood's character couldn't have been more than 22 or so (they mentioned that he got married right out of high school) and Ed Burns looks at least 35. If the brothers were 12 or more years apart, they wouldn't have any shared memories of childhood.
It got to the point where I could no longer suspend disbelief. Burns' other movies were great -- I hope he goes back to those roots for the next film.
I recently saw the movie this weekend and was not very impressed. I agree with scirillo when it comes to the point of why would Wood's character risk his AND his brother's (and possibly his wife's) and return to the old neighborhood, have a drink at a bar where he knows his brother's ex-girlfriend lives and buy cigs from a lady who knew him as well. To me Wood's character had to be really dumb or Burns just didn't think the script out that much. Another point is how could Wood NOT know that his brother and father were in the irish mob all that time? Especially since he ended up shooting some guys for going after his brother in the first few minutes of the movie.
Secondly, the movie should have been longer and really fleshed out the relationships between Burns and Wood and Burns and Dawson. Especially since I felt his character had to be really sleazy for sleeping with his brother's wife, knowing he was alive the whole time. And why wouldn't Wood's character go deeper into questioning since his older brother wouldn't answer his question and tell him that he had sex with his wife? The Francis character just seemed very unlikable and sleazy, I don't know if that was what Burns was going for though.
To me, it was sort of unbelievable and trite, he could have dug a lot deeper into everyone's relationships. It just seemed like a revenge movie.
It was sad. It had the makings of a good yarn and I found myself riveted against my will. However, the script is poor, leans too heavily on the easy four-letter f word. The actors are all capable of good performances, but the directing was so sloppy and the script so lame, they never had a chance. Each has moments of glory--just enough so we know the problem was not with the actors, but overall it was just plain sad.
shareI thought it was OK myself, but I'm glad I didn't pay the $3 fee for renting it as a new release as opposed to borrowing it from a friend. My major problem with it was the stupidity of Elijah Wood's character- honestly, he really didn't make very much sense. "You and dad... killed people together?" HAHAHA. Duh.
Also, like somebody already said, the relationship between Ed Burns and Rosario Dawson (who was VERY miscast, I'm sorry) was just a little more than hinted at. Very much skipped over.
I would have also appriciated something more of a twist or something regarding the story in general. It seemed like I had heard it before somehow... or maybe that was just me.