Why does every movie that takes place in Boston always seem to have a really dark look? As far as the movie, Tim Robbins and Marcia Gay Harden are amazing and about the only reason I rate the movie this high. This is far from Sean Penn's best performance. Kevin Bacon is solid but not extraordinary. I think the movie's slooww pace is to allow us through it's characters to smolder with pain and anguish. Instead, it almost put me to sleep. I also have issues with speech given by Laura Linney late in the movie to her husband. There is nothing previous in the movie that leads one to believe her. That being said, I think this movie proves Tim Robbins' ability as an actor, He moved me and I believed his fears and confusion. Harden establishes her brilliance as one of the best character actresses on film. … Expand

I have to agree with Brian G. The final speech by Laura Linney late in the movie ruined this movie for me. In general I liked the movie's complexity, but I did think they were trying too hard with the dialogue. That speech put me over the top. These people are all supposed to be working class Bostonians, not 1st year philosophy majors. There are some twists here, but I did see the end coming early on. Eastwood should watch a film like "The Usual Suspects" if he wants to do this type of a movie. That is not to say this is a bad movie, but it does come across as trying to force a film noir atmosphere rather than letting it honestly happen.… Expand

Mystic River never let me down. I heard great things, and they were all true. I was not disappointed by any aspect of the story. I'm glad they spent the extra money to shoot it in Boston instead of Toronto. I really liked the neighborhood they shot it in, it gave it such a human feel to it.

Mystic River never let me down. I heard great things, and they were all true. I was not disappointed by any aspect of the story. I'm glad they spent the extra money to shoot it in Boston instead of Toronto. I really liked the neighborhood they shot it in, it gave it such a human feel to it.

This movie has something a lot of movies these days don't - a style. And its Clint Eastwoods style, understated yet deliberate - just like his acting. And it has worked in his favor in this film to an extent that is really breath-taking. I came out of the movie drained because I was right there with these amazing actors in this intense story realized by a brilliant director. Film experiences don't get any better. Period.… Expand

I can't imagine how a suspenseful engrossing film such as this one could be boring. The acting drew me in. And I love seeing Boston on screen.

Clint Eastwood has broken new ground with this movie. With his deft ability at pulling the heartstrings of moviegoers, he has solidify his legacy as not only a great actor, but also one of the best directors to emerge within the past decade. This taut adaption of a superb novel allows us to experience the powerful emotions and conflicts of the story's three main characters, portrayed by Sean Penn (ex-convict trying to lead a legit life), Tim Robbins (the tormented friend) and Kevin Bacon (the by-the-book cop and childhood friend of both main protagonists). Rather than keep Penn's volatile emotions on a short leash, Eastwood has opted to let Penn snarl and bark his way through this performance as the grieving father who demands justice at any cost. And while the audience knows that Robbins' character cannot be the missing link to this crime drama, we somehow connect with his inner turmoil. There are no cut-and-dry endings to this tortured tale. What remain from this viewing are only the few loose strings that leave you musing about this human drama and the impact that violence has on our inner-city cultures. This film is definitely a heavy adult drama, and it deserves all of the Oscar recognition that will rightfully obtain.… Expand

There are worse films this year, but none more infuriating and overplayed. The story deteriorates into dreadfulness in the last half hour and suddenly explodes into a series of pathetically delivered monologues and Christ-like poses. Easily the most overrated film of the year; how it has managed to rack in such applause is shocking.

It's not the subject of the film that is so much tragic as the film itself. In one Razzie-worthy example, Laura Linney's monologue in the end was so hilariously bad, I laughed out loud in the theater, much to the anger of the others around me. I couldn't help it - few films have ever felt so calculated, so false, so unbelievably awful.

Superior small film from Clint Eastwood comes as a sort of anti-epic, cowpared to the scope of some of this year's entries(Master and Cowmander, Return of the King). Mystic River is a great film because it is good in all the elements that used to make up great moovies before we were clobbered over the head with lasers from a galaxy far, far away: writing, acting, and direction. The story is grounded in the real, projecting a verisimilitude of mood that is hard to shake. No fancy camera tricks, no cgi monsters, just a great story and solid performances by all(esp. by Sean Penn). Tough, gritty, and forboding, let's hope Mystic River get lots of Oscar attention. :=8)… Expand

An excellent movie, that only receives an 8 because of its unfortunately long ending, and some scenes that are repetitive or go on too long. Overall, fine acting and a good movie though.

Good acting by Sean Penn and Tim Robbins. Everything else sucks. The storyline leaves too many loose ends. K. Bacon seemed too weak and what contribution did the subplot of the wife calling him on the cell phone add to the movie. This movie certainly doesn't deserve all the kudos it gets.

Where to begin. For starters don't see this horrible film. I don't know what the critics were thinking! This film has more plot holes than swiss cheese. I can't say much about those without giving some of the plot away - but for example, a red haired boy grows up to have black hair and a black haired boy grows up to have reddish hair. Or how about the fact that perhaps the actions of the so-called police in this movie are totally unbelievable. Or perhaps that the killer in the end has nothing to do with anything in the movie at all (the way it is told). There are others, take your pick - nuff said. Besides that, the story has been done enough before. The writing is dismal - and at times nonsensical. Clint Eastwood tries to push the symbolism WAY too far to the point that it makes little sense. There are technical flaws too - see if you can find em yourself (or save your money). Worst of all, the ending is weak. This film doesn't get a 0 because Tim Robbins and Sean Penn (though at times a bit too Pacino-ish) do good jobs.… Expand

Overwrought, overwritten, overacted, overdirected. It's also pretentious and constantly blaring its inflated sense of importance to the viewer. In the end its pomposity just translates into random speeches and non sequiturs. The plot is one of the most predictable of the year, and yet also manages to have more holes than Swiss cheese. I left the theater with a headache.

Pure genius. And the greatest acting in one film in the past decade!

Tim Robbins turns in a good performance and Sean Penn falls overboard his hamming boat. The book was far better than this patchy, lifeless, self-important adaptation.

A depressing, disappointing mystery flick. It tries to be important by exploiting social issues such as child abuse, but the overacting made me cringe, and the inflated script (which was lifted striaght out of the book, and badly botched during the attempt) is simply overbearing.

If there is any justice, this film should win Best Picture come Oscars. It wasn't the best film of the year, but it's the best from the nominated bunch. A lot better than that hyped up franchise with 11 nominations.

Sean Penn scrunches up his face a lot. Female roles are one-dimensional and exist for nothing else than to prop others up. To see real acting, go see Lost in Translation.

This movie is NOT an accurate portrayal of Irish working-class Boston, and this is something critical to the story but that is totally overlooked by the reviewers. In its portrayal of working-class Irish Boston, it totally skims over the race issue, which was a HUGE factor in Irish-Catholic identity in the seventies and since. The author of the book is clearly a very biased writer who glamorizes a culture believing itself racially superior to blacks, and ethnically superior to Italians, that is excused for the violence it produced during the Boston school desegregation crisis and against black and Italian Bostonians, in general. This was totally swept under the rug by the movie and the book and should be enough to discredit it. The know-it-all reviewers don't bother doing any research on the factual background of films. Shame on them.… Expand

I expected a lot from this movie...and was very disappointed. The actors are first rate, but played horrible, emotion-less characters in this movie. The story line left large holes that were never answered. The movie lacked feeling, appeal, and flow. I do not recommend it. Sean Penn should not have won best actor...perhaps Bill Murray???

Best movie of the year. LOTR was good and visually stunning but when you have an endless budget and an entire country at your disposal of course that will be an impressive film. Sean Penn was absolutely brilliant. I thought that his performance was one of the most powerful I have ever seen. Tim Robbins might have even been better in this film. As far as Sean Penn winning best actor it was in the bag. The only other actor that came close this year was Bill Murray and lets face it. All he did was play Bill Murray in the movie. Its like giving Eminem and oscar for playing Eminem in 8 mile. Clint Eastwood's direction was great as well. This movie is on my top 5 of all time easily.… Expand

Laura Linney's closing monologue should be nominated somewhere for the worst monologue ever delivered. So atrocious I laughed out loud in the theater!!!

Eastwood goes strangely mystic in the milieu of working class america. yet, noir was always a kind of pulpy peering into the irrational abyss, beyond the border where rules of conventionality broke down and an occultish set of rules took over. we feel as though drained of usual moral categories and expectations and infused with something alien.

This movie was interesting and well acted. I figured out who the killer was half way through the movie but it was interesting nonetheless. I like Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon. They are all diligent actors.

Loved it...rented the DVD... watched it twice...still thinking about it. The only problem with the movie is that it leaves you with many unanswered questions: 1) Was Annabeth as psycho as her father and brothers? Why did Jimmy marry the manipulative, jealous, psycho Annabeth in the first place? What was up with Sean's wife and the recurring issue of being mute or unable to communicate ones feelings? What happens to Jimmy? What happens to Celeste? I could go on...but I still loved the movie and the all around great acting.… Expand

I see why this movie has a user average of 5, but the bad ending is greatly overshadowed by the powerful performances of this movie. I loved it! It does leave you with many questions, but it's no reason to give it a low mark.

One of the best movies I have ever seen. Great acting. Great story. Just great.

The acting was alright at times, but this movie was HORRIBLE! The script was cliched and the movie tried to be deep and thematic with the whole "river" theme, when the river was barely shown or mentioned at all!

This was the best film of the year, one of those all too rare examples of a work that deserves all of the praise bestowed on it. What Clint Eastwood has done here is show once again that understatement will win out over extravagance any time. The film doesn't have a single false note. Brilliantly acted by an ensemble cast who have never given better performances, Mystic River has a deliberate pace that perfectly complements its narrative structure and style. It has been superbly designed, photographed, scored and edited, the result being the full realization of a classical tragic tale.… Expand

I found this film to be one of the most spiritually profound works to come out of the Hollywood studio system in quite some time. Eastwood sorts through the rubble of his characters' lives with an assurance and patience that's reminiscent of his better works. The film has its ciphers (namely Laura Linney's Lady Macbeth) and its fair share of summarizing speeches

The most overrated movie of all time. Hideous, offensive, and soul-destroying. The kind of movie that tells you life sucks and everything's awful, and then fakes the evidence. Every plot twist is rigged and unbelievable, every line is ponderous and humorless, and the experience leaves you thinking there's nothing that can be accomplished in life. And don't blather to me about the "powerful acting." The best performances in this movie--the fine, quiet work done by Kevin Bacon, Laura Linney, and Laurence Fishburne--were, of course, the least acclaimed. All the praise and Oscars went to the overdone hamming of Penn, Robbins, and Marcia Gay Harden (who, to be fair, was given nothing to play but scaredy-cat.) It was embarrassing seeing the great Ms. Linney trying to make that bogus Lady Macbeth scene at the end believable. One of those movies that's trying to impress you rather than tell a story, which you're supposed to learn a lesson from. "Life sucks" is not an original message, nor one that will come as a great surprise to many people, but overpraised hack directors always seem to think they're doing something daring by trotting it out.… Expand

I'm a bit surprised to see the praise this movie's gotten, to be honest. I remember being furious that Sean Penn beat out Bill Murray for the Oscar that year but after finally seeing the movie I can admit that he did a fantastic job certainly worthy of an Academy Award. But the movie itself I can't understand the praise for. There's plenty of gritty and realistic dialogue here and all of it very well-acted but.… Expand

Well made, great acting and a worthy topic.

Obviously the intelligence of a majority of the voters on this movie is not too high, for it to recieve an average rating of 6.7/10. If you want to see a more fair rating, then you should go to IMDB, and see how REAL movie fans have rated this amazing film. Clint Eastwood blows me away with his direction in this film. It is second this year to Peter Jackson's direction in "Return of the King". The acting is top-notch, with Sean Penn and Tim Robbins turning in powerful performances. Overall, this should be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars this year, but lose out to the outstanding "Return of the King". Direction - 95/100, Writing - 85/100, Acting - 100/100, Overall - 90/100.… Expand

I have watched this film countless times and I still love it. It has a great story, great acting, and its just an overall great film that I love. This is a must see.

Clint Eastwood promises a lot but does not deliver what he would have wanted to.Sean Penn & Tim Robbins steal the show by portraying their well written roles like only they can .Though the film does haunt you ,it leaves a lot of loose ends.That said, one cannot take any credit away from Eastwood who manages to deliver yet another rewarding experience though this is obviously not even anywhere near his best.… Expand

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This film blew me away. At first, you feel for Jimmy, then you slowly grow to hate him. Terrible events always seem to bring these three friends together and I felt like I had been punched in the face when it had finished. Sean Penn brings this energy that feels like the most powerful energy a man can emit. Tim Robbins made me feel so bad for the character of Dave. He did a great job of portraying the mentally deteriorated rape victim. Dave was the character that made me feel so sad. He is like the ultimate hero and ultimate victim of this whole movie. Jimmy's daughter may have been the one that was killed, but Dave was raped as a child, kills a pedophile in the act of molestation, is blamed for the murder of the daughter and is then killed by one of his childhood friends in an act of vengeance. I don't care how big of a stupid loose cannon Jimmy is. I felt like the death of his daughter was almost an excuse to get back into his old ways. I wish that Jimmy could get what was coming to him. Losing a loved one is painful, but this character has no excuse for murder. His accusations were purely based on blinding vengeance. I'm sure that several fathers would kill their daughters murderer which makes me feel like my incredible dislike for Jimmy is a little harsh. Look at this ramble! Eastwood just made me feel for his characters and got me emotionally indulged in his film. Such an accomplishment of acting by every character involved in this movie. Acted to perfection, directed to perfection and written to perfection, Mystic River touches on several issues of lost childhoods, loss and our relationships with others. I can't even think of better things to say about this movie, it was so good. Absolutely incredible film.… Expand

A mesmerizing experience as MR keeps you glued to your seat with a stimulating adventure, ideal character development, and epic performances. MUST WATCH!

It was on TV recently and talk about not able to hold my attention. I popped in now and then to see if I could stand it as there was nothing else on. Bad.

Absolutely fantastic! I don't understand why people find it bad! I don't often trust the 'Oscar winner' type of movies, but this movie deserved the award! The actors were all formidable! you couldn't ask for a better cast, because this film has a deluxe- cast! I think some people are usually biased thinking that a big Hollywood movie, is either 'bad' or 'overrated' and, quite frankly, that type of attitude doesn't help a person to appreciate a movie for what it is. I am sorry but I disagree...Hollywood has good and bad movies, same happens in Europe, Latin America, Asia, Africa, and my dear Australia! so just because this is a USA blockbuster it doesn't mean is a bad movie...and I am not American, but YEAH, I firmly believe this is an excellent movie!… Expand

Absolutely loved this movie. Well acted, Kept you interested from start to finish, and it was really good. I am suprised that users have rated it so low.

First off, this is a 9.5 out of 10. Acting is amazing. Mainly Sean Penn and Tim Robbins. Score is good. Story is great. Real thrilling story. I agree a lot with what spadenx, except the ending. It's all right but he kills an innocent man and they just like " oh well". That makes me aggravated. Still a great movie. Overall, this is a great thriller. It'll keep you on guessing. Highly recommended.

Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon, great actors .

Great movie .

My favorite movie .

Best movie ever .

One of the most powerful American films of the decade, Mystic River is hypnotic and unforgettable.