#29 - The Town (2010)

Ben Affleck is good in something?! (Interrobang alert?!)

Now, historically, I've been just as hard on BAffle as anyone, whether it's because he's terribly miscast in his movies, or he just seems to muck about the screen with little to no idea of what he's doing, and it's because I've been so critical of him for so long that I haven't, in recent memory, given him much of a chance.  Indeed, I think his directorship of Gone Baby Gone is about the only thing I've voluntarily watched of his since Good Will Hunting.

Enter The Town.  Ultimately, I was going to have to see this movie.  Ben's performance and direction were repeatedly referred to in glowing terms by both friends and critics alike, and the movie was good enough to be in the Oscar hunt all season, and though it only earned one nomination (Jeremy Renner, who is fantastic as Ben's loose cannon brotherfriend), it had to have been close within other categories (specifically Best Picture). 

The story is somewhat conventional, and I can't say that I was surprised all that often at the paths the script took-- though, that being said, it was markedly different than the formula I thought it was going to follow from the original trailers, so that was well done-- but that didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the movie.  There were several performances that keeps the movie above merely "watchable":

-Ben Affleck does a passable job at acting (okay, he's actually quite good)
-Rebecca Hall (who I'm loving at the moment) does a fine job, as well, though if I'm going to be critical (and aren't I always?), I wasn't as impacted by her distress as much as I should have been during a somewhat pivotal scene when Affleck comes over to "smooth things over".  She gets beaucoup points for the scene in the laundromat, though. 
-Jeremy Renner? Whew.  Shave that little mustache thing he's got going on, and there's nothing bad at all about that.  Oh, and he's so good I literally cringed watching him.  Yeah.
-Jon Hamm is fine, but it's difficult, because his role is just fine.  His rapport with the Boston PD guy was pretty great, though.

Oh, and Pete Postlethwaite got a Supporting Actor nod from the BAFTAs? I mean, I get he's one of yours, but dude has less time on-screen and even fewer lines than William Hurt in A History of Violence or Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love.  Was it 'cause he died? Cause that's sad and all, but come on.  This was no Ledger Joker.  </minor rant>

So The Town: mostly predictable, some good acting (doesn't Affleck win an Oscar since this is such a "departure" for him? You know, cause it's good? Isn't that what wins these awards now? Yeah, I'm looking at you Reese Witherspoon and Sandra Bullock!), a nice, clean-looking film (well, not too clean) that deserves the accolades it's received.

Score: 8/10