Up Town, boys

AT THE MOVIES

The Town
DIRECTED BY: Ben Affleck
STARRING: Ben Affleck, Jeremy Renner, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm
CERT: 15A

Gone Baby Gone was a strong directorial debut a couple of years back for Ben Affleck and he follows that up with this decent thriller. The Town won’t go down as a classic but it’s another promising sign that Affleck has a fine career ahead of him behind the camera.

The film is set in the Boston neighbourhood of Charlestown, apparently the ancestral home to more bank robbers and armoured carjackers than anywhere else in the country. Which means either these are very bad people, or simply generations of Irish immigrants who knew before the rest of us what the financial institutions were up to and had come up with their own solution.
Affleck is Doug Macray, one of these many enterprising thieves, whose bunch of merry men work for Fergie (Pete Postlethwaite), the sinister chap who runs the local flower shop.
During their latest heist, Doug and his crew run into a spot of bother when mad loose cannon Jem (Renner) decides to take a hostage and brings branch manager Claire (Hall) for a spin. Which causes all kinds of brotherly tension among the boys, before they let her go.
When Claire begins to help the authorities with their inquiries, Jem is all for a quick solution, maybe a few cement blocks around the ankles. Doug is a tad more human and he decides to find out what she’s telling by getting to know her. So he bumps into her in the laundromat – accidentally on purpose – and after a few more meetings, sure wouldn’t you know, he realises he likes her – though not enough to go admitting that he and his buddies are the reason she’s so traumatised.
Her tendency to be a tad emotional can get on the nerves, though it is quite real. I have an American friend who’s a bank teller. In the space of a few months last year, she was held up three times by the same bank robber, before transferring to another branch due to distress.
Within a few weeks of starting work at the new location, she was held up again. I don’t think she’s eaten in six months and I have a feeling she won’t be falling in love with any cheeky criminals anytime soon.
But Doug and Claire hit it off, which won’t go down so well with the brotherhood if they find out. Especially not with dogged FBI man Adam Frawley (Hamm) hot on their trail.
It’s a bit of a silly plot, though it still had the potential to be a cracking drama. Sometimes it is, but Affleck – who also co-wrote the script, from the Chuck Hogan novel – neglects the more interesting characters and possible storylines and sticks with an increasingly bland central duo and the jaded old heist movie formula of chases and high-powered shoot-outs.
There’s still quite a bit to enjoy, though. Jeremy Renner is in great form as the intense Jem, Jon Hamm from Mad Men brings an underwritten role to fine life, Blake Lively turns up briefly as the lead man’s bad girl ex and there’s an excellent scene featuring the great Chris Cooper as Doug’s imprisoned father.
All of whom make you wish that Affleck – or the suits in the studio – had taken this down a darker, less clichéd road.

Eat, Pray, Love
DIRECTED BY: Ryan Murphy
STARRING: Julia
Roberts, James
Franco, Billy Crudup, Javier Bardem, Richard Jenkins
CERT: PG
Apparently this film is based on a worldwide bestseller, a publishing phenomenon, though it passed over my house without anyone being aware of its existence. Which is a mercy, if the book is anything as trite as the movie.
Julia Roberts is a successful writer who ups and leaves her apparently miserable life in a nice home with a nice chap (Crudup), to go traipsing around the world to discover herself.
This involves eating tones of lovely native grub in Italy and having a fling with handsome fellow, James Franco, before getting bored and skipping off to India for a spot of spiritual enlightenment and an encounter with nice beardy Texan Richard Jenkins. Finally it’s off to Bali for more soul healing and a new romance with Javier Bardem, who’s really handsome and really understanding and a great kisser. Everything a woman could want. At least until next week.
Maybe it is essential that you be female in order to sit through this – or indeed, make it through the first 20 minutes – without being overcome by an urge to stick forks in your eyes.
I don’t know but my typist says I should try reading the book whenever I get the bandages off.