The Town (2010)

Critics are falling over themselves to praise Ben Affleck’s “The Town,” his follow-up to the 2007 drama “Gone, Baby, Gone.” Me? Not loving it. It’s not Affleck’s direction –- tight and so localized, one feels like they just received a private, gritty tour of Boston’s Charlestown –- or even his acting. It’s the problematic script (co-written by Affleck) that dives from smart crime thriller into a contrived romance before falling into a vat of sentimentality. People who compare this film to 1970s gritty crime dramas need new eyeballs.

The story: Charleston, it is said, is home to the largest per capita population of bank and armored car thieves in the world. Children follow their fathers into a life of crime with no reservation. Doug MacRay is such a child, with an old man (Chris Cooper) in prison. The plot kicks off with Doug's group robbing a bank. In a panic, hot-headed leader Jem (Jeremy Renner) takes bank manager Claire (Rebecca Hall) hostage. She’s insurance, and once the guys are safely away, Claire is set free. But not for long. Jem decides to kill the woman. Doug, our Robin Hood, wants to save this distressed damsel. In the process, Doug falls in love with Claire. And she with him, not knowing her man was her captor. Meanwhile, an FBI agent (John Hamm) is on Doug’s tail. It all ends in a shoot out at Fenway Park and an eye-roller escape.

Look, the trailer laid out every plot detail to this film beforehand, so I have no problem dishing openly on the Bunker Hill-sized plot holes: 1) I did not buy the rich girl/poor boy relationship of Claire and Doug, nor its silly outcome. 2) Once Claire learns of Doug’s secret, she cries and yells, but then gives in. She loves this guy too darn much. Really?!!? 3) Once Hamm’s Fed gets wind of the tryst, he suspects Claire is an insider on the theft. “Get a lawyer,” he says. But the accusation is dropped. Not believable.

What saves “Town”? That local flair. The bartender, cops and the guys at an AA meeting are wonderfully true. This is no CW show full of anorexic models. These people don’t just know the Boston neighborhoods, they are the neighborhood. Renner, Cooper and Pete Postlethwaite rule in their roles, the last playing a crime boss florist who turns pruning roses into an act of menace. I also dug the car chases through Boston city streets. Every tight corner turn leaves a surprise for the getaway driver.

"Town" as a drama offers no such surprises. Affleck's Doug is too much an aw-shucks saint to make a full impact, and Hall –- a wonderful actress -– as Clarice is also too damn nice. Is it too much to ask for this woman to snap in seething anger? To claw out the eyes of the guy who robbed her, kidnapped her, lied to her –- and screwed her –- literally? Why must women in crime flicks be wilting wallflowers desperate for a man? I have large hopes for Affleck’s directing career, there’s much good here, and I dug “Gone, Baby, Gone.” But “Town” left me feeling robbed. B-