The Town

In 2007, Ben Affleck (a generally bad actor in stupid movies) made a great movie. That movie was Gone Baby, Gone. It was gritty, sad, and complicated. It was also criminally overlooked. Now Affleck has released The Town, and it is no Gone Baby, Gone. It is, rather, a whiny unrealistic movie. The first mistake in the Town was the casting (the last was the title). By casting, I mean that it's ridiculous that he (Affleck) should place himself as the star. He doesn't look right, he doesn't look like the kind of guy who'll beat the shit out of you, but rather a guy at Starbucks whose order is too long. This gets worse. Affleck is so in love with his character that he makes him sort of the reluctant criminal. He pleads to his girlfriend who he earlier kidnapped and fell in love with while stalking her (are you fucking kidding me?) that he's never killed anyone. But he doesn't consider taking a machine gun and opening fire at cops as murder. Or when murder's good. This character ruins the movie. The rest of it is fine, the characters, even the ridiculous story is pretty fun. But Affleck is trying to put a romance in this crime movie. But you can't have a heartbroken sappy dude in the middle of it. You can't be a mastermind of crime and escape in a Shawshank Redemption-esque way. This movie is a big disappointment. It is the prime example of the director in love with his character. That makes it kind of stupid. The rest of The Town is well done, but it all gets pretty undermined by stupidity.
The Town: ★★