Thursday, November 11, 2010

The Town


My husband and I were finally able to see The Town or as I prefer to call it: Don Draper (With A Gun!).  I thoroughly enjoyed the film (although I don't think it's quite as good as The Facebook Movie), and I'm really glad that I was able to catch it on the big screen.  



 In the charming documentary about the life of film producer Robert Evans, The Kid Stays In The PictureRobert Evans says that all Italian mob films prior to The Godfather seemed campy and inauthentic, because most of their directors were Jewish and didn't have the first clue about the Sicilian mafia.  Enter Francis Ford Coppola.  FFC is to Italian mafia movies as Affleck is to Bostonian movies.  In my opinion, Ben Affleck should only be involved with movies that are set in Boston, because when he strays from what he knows we often get mixed results.  In terms of settings, the farther away he is from Boston the worse the movie.  Think about it- Gigli was set in Los Angeles.  

I'm sorry Ben- The Town was excellent.  I didn't mean to bring up Gigli.  You don't deserve that.  

Most reviews will tell you The Town is worth seeing and that Ben Affleck did a great job directing, which is basically what I just did.  

Now let's talk about Jon Hamm.  

First of all, I did think that the wardrobe department was trying to de-Draper him just a tad, because instead of dressing him in what I would imagine most FBI agents wear (a button down with a tie) they put him in a lot of plaid.  And I think some of this plaid was flannel.  And kinda wrinkled.  Eww. 


There were moments when Draper came out to play and I think it worked well for the character whose only function was to serve as a hard nosed yet likable FBI agent with no backstory determined to bring down a crew of bank robbers from Charlestown.  In fact, most of the time I just thought of him as Don Draper.  Like maybe Dick Whitman was trying on yet another hat- FBI Agent.  



This is not to say that I think Jon Hamm has a limited range.  Anyone who saw him on SNL knows that he's capable of more.  And please Hollywood, give me more of him because someday Mad Men will end and I need to see that mug on a regular basis.  

A few more comments before I wrap this up.  




All of the actors did a fantastic job, but the two standouts for me were Jeremy Renner (not a surprise) and Blake Lively (big surprise).  I completely stopped seeing Jeremy Renner the actor and began to believe that this person was in fact a Townie who would pistol whip you within an inch of your life for looking at him.  And Lively- whoa! Nailed the Boston accent and the pathetic, slutty, unfit-single-mom thing perfectly. Oh, and Pete Postlethwaite made the most of his small role and turned out a great performance as usual. 


And last, but not least- the person who came up with the tagline for this movie (Welcome to the Bank Robbery Capital of America) needs to be fired.  Immediately.  





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