This is not the screwing around crew
Ben Affleck’s first feature, Gone Baby Gone, was an intimate drama about detectives searching for a missing girl. With his second, The Town, Affleck once again returns to working-class Boston, but this time with a disappointingly conventional action thriller.
Affleck plays Doug MacRay, the leader of a gang of ruthless bank robbers. Their latest job was a success, though they briefly had to take a woman hostage before eventually letting her go. Doug becomes enamored with her and days later follows her into a laundromat. They strike up a conversation and (surprise!) fall in love. The shit hits the fan when she discovers that he was her captor.
The film’s weakest link is its script, which utilizes nearly every cliché in the crime thriller book. There is a bad-ass FBI agent (Don Draper!), a drug-addicted ex-girlfriend, a violently erratic gang member (Renner) and a creepy-looking crime boss. Doug, now having found true love, is looking to complete his “last job” before getting out of the business. And, of course, there are all-out, badass gun battles and car chases throughout the narrow streets of Boston.
The Town’s trailer makes it seem like a smart drama, but it really has more in common with summer popcorn fare. Corny one-liners abound, lots of stuff blows up and attempts at serious drama fail miserably (try getting through Doug’s painfully long account of his difficult childhood with a straight face). That being said, there are plenty of laughs (some unintentional), and if I were still in a summer movie mentality I might be a little more enthusiastic.
Directed by: Ben Affleck
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm
Rated R, 125 min.
2 Stars
