Mystic River (2003)
May 1st, 2007
Directed by Clint Eastwood. Stars Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins.
This movie is no fun. It’s 2 1/2 hours of unremitting gloom, without any likeable characters or a single joke. Like the 2006 best-picture Oscar winner The Departed, it’s about a bunch of dumb Micks who can’t escape their past, can’t stop cutting each other up with knives, and can’t even figure out how to get out of Boston.
If I were Boston I’d sue Hollywood for defamation of character.
As for acting, it’s a pissing match among the three heavy-hitting male stars. You’ve never seen such emoting! Such roaring and grimacing and tooth-gnashing! Sean Penn out-Brandos the others, followed closely by Robbins and then by Bacon.
Here’s a picture of the three guys as kids. Left to right they grow up to be Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, and Sean Penn. On this day something bad happens to Robbins’ character, and after that not one of them ever learns a thing.
Clint did better his next time out, with Million Dollar Baby. Or if you want to get mystical, try Mystic Pizza, starring the young Julia Roberts. As I recall it was kind of fun… not like this stinker!
