Mystic River

Delivering some of the best acting of their careers, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon star as three childhood friends who grow up and find themselves in a tragic world of murder and betrayal. Robbins is incredible as a man with a sad past who becomes a suspect in the killing of a 19-year-old girl, Katie. Katie is the daughter of the Penn character. Bacon plays the police officer assigned to the case and is consequently reunited with his childhood street hockey pals. What occurs is mesmerizing at first, but is then marred by dime-store psychology and Eastwood’s occasional tendency for melodrama. When the mystery of the murder is solved, it feels like a cheat. While there are some amazing performances in the film that help make it worth seeing, it’s not the amazing American film that some are calling it.