THE AMERICAN DREAM HAS A PRICE.
In 1926, WWI veteran Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck), who’s fallen in love with the mistress (Sienna Miller) of a gangster, becomes involved in the battle between two crime families, one Irish and one Italian. Affleck’s adaptation of Dennis Lehane’s novel, the second part in a series of books about a fictional Irish-American family, has lush cinematography, exciting shootouts and classical gangster movie ingredients. However, none of this is enough to compensate for the turgid pace and Affleck’s wooden performance; it’s a mystery why women fall for his character in the movie.
2016-U.S. 129 min. Color. Widescreen. Written and directed by Ben Affleck. Novel: Dennis Lehane. Cinematography: Robert Richardson. Cast: Ben Affleck (Joe Coughlin), Elle Fanning (Loretta Figgis), Remo Girone (Maso Pescatore), Brendan Gleeson, Robert Glenister, Matthew Maher… Sienna Miller, Zoe Saldana, Chris Cooper, Anthony Michael Hall.
Trivia: Co-produced by Affleck and Leonardo DiCaprio; the latter was allegedly first considered for the lead.
