‘The Town’ Comes Home

Everyone in Boston seems to be buzzing about The Town, and while I haven’t had the chance to see it yet, what with classes in full swing, I have to agree that it looks pretty fantastic. But, seeing as I’m a usual skeptic before watching movies longer than an hour and a half, I did a little research first. After seeing that Ben Affleck’s previous foray into directing (Gone Baby Gone, Oct 2007) was hailed by many critics and received a 7.5 out of 10 on metacritic.com, I decided to watch the trailer for The Town, and really see what this thing is about. For those who don’t know yet, The Town is set in Charlestown and the North End, and seems to be a mix of the Bourne movies with less mystery, and more of an inlaid plot conflict, with Affleck’s character falling in love with the hostage taken from a robbery, who has no idea of his true identity. The film has had a great opening weekend, grossing over 23 million dollars. (You can read reviews here.) The Town also stars Chris Cooper (American Beauty, Capote), whose wife, Marianne Leone, will be visiting Snell Library for a Meet the Author event on November 3. She’ll be discussing her book, Knowing Jesse, about the couple’s son who passed away in 2005 due to complications from cerebral palsy.