EPISODE 5 REVIEW: The Town

The Town - 2010

Director: Ben Affleck

Starring: Ben Affleck, Jeremy Reiner, Jon Hamm

“No matter how much you change, you still gotta pay the price for the things you’ve done.” A line uttered by Ben Affleck’s character Doug MacRay who, at the time saying this, was literally not paying for anything. Under normal circumstances I’d be like “eh, whatever, he won,” but I’m fresh off of Sideways that was pretty much “No matter how much of an asshole you are, you won’t have to pay for any of it if you do it far enough away from home.” So I’m a little bitter.

The Town (sponsored by Budweiser…often…) is to bank-robbery heist movies what Rango was to westerns. A stupidly predictable film with an homage to just about every cliché in the book, just in case this is your first bank-robbery heist movie.

Lead character looking to get out of the business? Check.

Hot-headed moron that’s the cause for just about every job going wrong? Check.

Old guy ringleader saying “you can’t quit now. Rabble rabble kill your family rabble.” Check.

Psycho ex-girlfriend who has no business being in the movie other than to make you feel sympathy for the kid she’s taking care of? Check.

Chance at one final, crazy big score that will pretty much be the farewell to your career of bank-robbing? Check.

See every single thing coming and say “if everybody seriously wasn’t an idiot, this would have gone a lot better.” Checkity check check check.

Did I forget to mention the love interest
that is totally getting in the way?
Sorry. Check.

Now, let me be clear. This isn’t a bad movie. It’s just…kind of a there movie. I didn’t walk away saying “wow, what a powerful or unique or original or captivating movie that makes me stop and think for a moment.” My first thought was really “well, did that.” Ben Affleck’s directorial debut doesn’t do anything daring but really, the standard stuff that it does do…was done really well. I didn’t really notice any easy outs per se and never felt like “gaaaaah, this is all of the dumb!” It was a surprisingly enjoyable watch despite the fact that I still wanted to palette cleanse…though for some reason it was with Lucky Number Slevin and I can’t figure out why.

Anyway, it’s difficult to go over the plot because…I pretty much did with the cliché list. It didn’t deviate much from that and I know I keep going back to that because it’s really the only thing that’s sticking with me. Were any of the characters memorable? No…not really. The whole thing focused on Doug and Doug was kind of a whiny little jerk pretty much like Ben Affleck was during the start of the whole Jennifer Garner thing so…that was nice to relive. The only other characters with decent screen time were hot-headed moron James Coughlin (Jeremy Reiner, who also got plenty of Award nods for his performance) and hot-headed FBI agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) who seemed oddly excited about a new robbery case coming up at the start of the film despite the fact that the gang in question had robbed 6 trucks and 2 banks in their recent history. I couldn’t tell if we missed a few scenes. I watched the Extended Cut. …Maybe newbie Ben Affleck thought he needed to make an extended cut FROM the movie. Wouldn’t put it passed him.

Old guy ringleader. Of course he's got
some retired dude job. It's basically
Jimmy "The Tulip" Tudeski
15 years after The Whole Nine Yards.

Since the plot is really out, let’s chat directing as I was really pleased with this movie’s tone and presentation. The color stayed kind of miserable and drab, but never hopeless. Moments of sunshine were slim, and the movie very smartly tied that along with a story that it was a sign of potentially bad things to come. Wasn’t always the case, but I definitely paid a little more attention. Sound direction was also awesome, there was a ton of depth in the sound effects and the use of music was also very slim and had great purpose. I appreciate that. It isn't done enough nowadays.

Despite the story being a little meh, all things considered, this was actually one heck of a showing from Mr. Affleck and I’m excited to see more. Now, before all 3 of you start commenting “you should see Argo” you should know that that is also in the BackLOG so…I will. And I’ll be paying attention. As for The Town though, based mostly on enjoyment factor and just being a pretty solid movie, it escapes scot-free (as in...not paying for anything) off to its coastal paradise with 7 dustbusters out of 10.