Three young boys spend an afternoon playing street hockey and indulge in boyish hijinks in a Boston suburb. Two men accost them, presenting themselves as cops, and take one of them, Dave, presumably to tell him to his mother. This turns out to be a kidnapping from which Dave escapes on his own. Fast forward years later: the three are now grown men who have lived their own lives apart - Jimmy (Sean Penn) has been through one marriage and a jail sentence, but is running a neighborhood store and living a quiet life with his family; Sean (Kevin Bacon), now a cop himself, and struggling to make his own family complete; and Dave (Tim Robbins), also living a quiet life with his family - but whose past experiences may have scarred him more than we thought. On a tragic night where Jimmy's daughter is murdered, suspicion is initially cast on her secret boyfriend, Brendan (Tom Guiry), whom Jimmy hates for reasons initially undisclosed. However, the film takes us through incidents that may point to Dave as the culprit - his peculiar attitude makes his wife Celeste (Marcia Gay Harden) scared and confess things to Jimmy. Sean, torn between friendship and duty, also has to walk the line and rein in his partner Whitey (Laurence Fishburne) who has all but put the handcuffs on Dave. Their choices make for an explosive finale, albeit loose ends are left untied. But perhaps thats how the Dennis Lehane novel and Clint Eastwood wanted to leave it. Penn has the good fortune of finally hitting his stride by starring in 2 of the best movies of 2003, although I feel he should have won that Oscar for 21 Grams rather than this one.
"Imagine if i directed 'Swept Away' ... they wouldn't be laughing at her ... oh God, i still love Madonna."
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