Troy Duffy directs Willem Dafoe, Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus in this indie crime flick where two Irish Catholic brothers take down the organised criminals of Boston.

Written and directed by a barman / bouncer who got lucky and then burned every bridge to Hollywood on the way. To wit here is just one of many little facepalm tidbits from IMDB “Composer, writer, and director Troy Duffy dismissed several casting choices for this movie. He refused to meet with Brad Pitt because he’d already played an Irishman in The Devil’s Own (1997) (where Duffy found his Irish accent unconvincing) and rejected Keanu Reeves and Ethan Hawke, calling the former “a fucking punk” and the latter “a talentless fool”. Oh deary deary me! The movie is a sloppy Tarantino clone of a clone of clone with little flair and no consistency. There’s one good action scene involving a toilet. Willem Dafoe camps it up as the FBI agent on the case and liking what he sees. The whole rigamarole feels shattered and then put back together. Like an 8 year old playing guns in their bedroom alone… and then this happened… and then this happened. Those titular protagonists The Boondock Saints get lost in the mix, the bad taste dialogue comes across as sad posing. This should be my jam but it is just a sloppy example of deluded people (indie studios / wannabe auteurs) chasing the one true master.

4

Perfect Double Bill: 2 Days In the Valley (1996)