Friday, October 04, 2024

Movie review - "No Looking Back" (1998) **

 Ed Burns ran out of things to say with this movie, which takes what would've been a subplot for his first two movies and drags it out over a feature - Lauren Holly is engaged to Jon Bon Jovi and ex Ed Burns turns up. We find out early on that she was pregnant and he paid for an abortion. That's about it. Oh Holly can't have kids - that's the third act twist.

The windswept locations are beautiful, the cast is pretty, there's some nice Springsteen songs. There's a lot of working class acting in this - lotta smoking, lotta drinking beers. Every scene some actor seems to spark up or drink a beer - after a while it gets to be a joke.

Holly doesn't quite fit in the world which is the point I guess. The movie's a bit of a love letter to her. I'm not sure she's got It (she was an It girl at the time with Jim Carey and all that). In her defence Burns can't dramatise her issues. But you sense Cameron Diaz or Jennifer Aniston who'd been Burns' last film would've nailed in it.

Jennifer Esposito does fit in. She has a great moment where she makes a move on Bon Jovi. More scenes to the suport characters would've been better. Bon Jovi gets a great scene where she cries. Blythe Danner is in it. Her scenes aren't bad. Connie Britton.

Possibilities are hinted at but not really explored - Burns' character being dodgy (I do like that Burns doesn't play him for sympathy).

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