Movie Review: The Town

Don't call it a co...no, it's a come back.

Holy Jesus, Ben Affleck is back from the dead. It's been a looooong time Ben. Good Will Hunting, Chasing Amy, Dogma, even the so hokey its awesome Armageddon...those were all in the 90's bro. Sadly, the 2000's were NOT kind to Mr. Affleck. A decade of crap films (THIS) and tabloid relationships (Ben + JLO = Bennifer?) turned Matt Damon's hetero life mate into a walking punchline and the recipient of many taco flavored kisses. 

Poor Ben tried turning things around by the decades end. His portrayal of a suicidal Superman in 2006's Hollywoodland wasn't altogether terrible and he directed the hell out of the critically acclaimed Gone Baby Gone the following year but he still hadn't dug himself out of the massive shit hole he had created (although he made me laugh pretty hard in his small role in Mike Judge's Extract).

So now it's 2010 and with this new decade comes a fresh start...and what a fucking start it is! The Town is a suspenseful drama the likes of which I haven't experienced in some time. Equal parts lovey drama and cops & robbers heist flick, The Town is about a motley cr(ue)w of Irish bank robbers whose lives get flipped turned upside down when Dougie (Affleck), falls in love with the bank manager from one of their heists. Blake Lively and Rebecca Hall are cute as hell, while The Hurt Locker's Jeremy Renner steals the fucking show as Doug's psycho bff Jem. The dude from Mad Men (Jon Hamm) does an adequate job in his role as the stereotypical FBI agent who really hates the bad guys ("gotta catch em all...") but honestly, the only real patchy acting role in this film is once again, ol' Ben Affleck himself. Of course Affleck's drab (Keanu Reeves inspired?) performance is still, easily, his best piece of work all decade; and really it's his directing and writing skills that are off the hook in this movie. The bank robbery scenes are insane, a cross between Heat and Point Break, while the Bostonian drama elements are reminiscent of Mystic River and The Departed. Affleck isn't reinventing the wheel here, but his directorial work in The Town shows he steals from the best.