3.5 stars out of 5
My man Depp in a true-life organized crime story? There was no way I was going to miss this. I knew very little of the life of James “Whitey” Bulger and had only mentioned him once before on this website. So I was looking forward to learning a thing or two. Plus, they stacked the deck with quality actors: Cumberbatch, Peter Sarsgaard, Landry from Friday Night Lights, Kevin “0 Degrees of Myself” Bacon, etc. Plus, they’ve got the director of Crazy Heart, and we liked Crazy Heart, didn’t we? Sure we did!
So… why didn’t I love this as much as I wanted to? I don’t know. It’s good; I liked it. But I didn’t love it.
Don’t blame Johnny — he does a hell of a job. Makeup, hair, eyes — kudos to those people too. Depp looks sinister. Like a rat/snake combo. (By the way, the rat/snake combo at Carl’s Jr. is superb, but I digress.) Early on, there’s a scene with Bulger being sweet to an old woman in the neighborhood and I thought, “Oh, they’re humanizing him.” But the truth is, there’s not much humanizing they can do. Bulger is a sick fuck, and Depp captures that. We’re scared of him.
There are many clichés, but, it’s a mafia movie, what do you expect? They hang out at a dive bar, like in The Drop. It all takes place in Southie, like in that movie… Southie. There’s loyalty and family and the “straight” brother and informants and drugs and guns. Still, director Scott Cooper doesn’t overdo it; it generally feels real.
Cumberbatch plays Bulger’s younger brother William, who’s in the Massachusetts State Senate. If that wasn’t a true fact, you’d think, “That’s ridiculous!” Unfortunately, the script doesn’t give him very much to do, and it’s shame to waste an actor of Cumberbund’s stature. Bacon, as a boss at the FBI, also doesn’t get much to do and I found his appearance distracting. Faring better is Joel Edgerton as the FBI guy who is Bulger’s childhood pal (again, if it wasn’t true…). In an earlier decade, Harvey Keitel would’ve played this conflicted role, and here Edgerton pulls it off admirably. Sarsgaard is very good in a small role as a squirrelly junkie and he reminded me of someone I know in real life but I’m not going to name names. Dakota Johnson plays Bulger’s baby mama. You may know her from 50 Shades of Whatever and being the spawn of Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith, but to me she was Kate in the canceled-too-soon TV comedy Ben and Kate. I like Dakota.
There’s a bit too much exposition, but overall the script is decent enough. I guess Cooper just doesn’t have the artfulness of a Scorsese to transform this from an OK gangster flick into something truly special. Still, after The Lone Ranger, Transcendence, and Mortdecai, we have to view this a victory for Johnny Depp.
if movies could talk back. gets sadder and sadder.
“An American Rune” – fabulous song. deep, 3 stars