Why don't you spell it out even more?

Apparently, I've been on a Clint Eastwood-directed movie spree all unknowingly. I think maybe Eastwood is not the director for me.


Mystic River is about three childhood friends. Something awful happens to one and they grow apart. Then something awful happens to another one and they come back together.


I'm not usually the biggest fan of any of the three leads - Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Bacon. However, I think they are all really good in this. Penn is nothing less than fantastic.


What drug this movie down for me is the heavy-handedness of the direction. They don't hint at connections between scenes - they spell it all out for you. The viewer is apparently too dumb to catch onto the similarities. And then after making it exceedingly obvious, there's a scene near the end when two of the characters have this completely out of character conversation and let you know how the past awful thing led to the current awful situation. Ugh! I only give this 4 stars - and Penn gets them all.