Ben Affleck stars in Live By Night |
Inside Man
Rotten Tomatoes Plot: Ben Affleck writes, produces and stars in this adaptation of Dennis Lehane's sprawling crime novel centering on the prodigal son of a prominent police chief, and his gradual descent into the criminal underworld.
A Cuban, an Irishman and an Italian walk into a bar... Sounds like a bad joke; but (sadly) Affleck's Live By Night is a disastrous reality, a poor man's version of 2013's equally insipid Gangster Squad that swaps the glitz & glamour of Los Angeles for Tampa (no seriously, Tampa.) The negatives are many: Terrible casting (Chris Messina as a gangster?) cheesy accents, clumsy segues and laughable storytelling. Not to mention subpar acting, empty/meaningless female characters (Elle Fanning & Zoe Saldana) and a prominent role for an evil Klansman with a lisp. What a lousy way to start 2017.
Grade: F