The Town

I’ve mentioned a few times that I was on vacation last week. And I didn’t go anywhere. So most of my week consisted of sitting in my apartment. I did a lot of reading. I did some writing. I watched more than a few movies. Other than that, it made for some pretty boring me time. At one point, I’m pretty sure I posted that status on Facebook, mentioning that the next time I take a vacation I’ll be going somewhere, just so I can avoid the boredom that last week provided.

In response to that status update, my friend over at I Seek With All My Heart sent me a message on Thursday. She suggested that I give her husband a call because he was planning to catch a matinee that afternoon. This was great. Not only did it mean I was going to get out of the apartment for a few hours, it meant seeing a friend that I hadn’t seen in a couple months. I called and we decided on the 3:35 showing of The Town.

This is one that I’ve seen previews of for several months. It stars and is directed by Ben Affleck and before it came out it seemed to be compared a lot to The Departed, a movie which was pretty awesome. The gist of it is that it’s about a group of guys from the Charlestown neighborhood in Boston who are career bank/armored car robbers. Affleck plays Doug Macray, who is the obvious brains behind the operation. The problem is that he’s got a bit more of a conscience than the other guys, especially his best friend, James Coughlin (Jeremy Renner), who has no qualms about injuring or even killing witnesses to make sure no one talks.

Well, they rob a bank. And they’re worried that one of the witnesses, Claire (Rebecca Hall), may be cooperating a bit too much with the FBI. Jimmy wants to “take care” of her, but Doug steps in so that no one needs to die. This works out great until Doug falls in love with Claire. Meanwhile, Special Agent Adam Frawley (Jon Hamm) puts all the pieces together and figures out the identities of these bank robbers. So Claire is caught between the guy she’s fallen in love with and turning him in to the Feds.

Overall it’s a pretty decent flick. It’s an entertaining story that’s dark and gritty, which is probably where a lot of the comparison to The Departed comes from. Also, it takes place in Boston, so that adds to the similarities. It gets a thumbs up in my book.