Southie (1998)

Sadly Over-hyped

How sad is this?

From my favorite movies..

A lot of fun.

This movie, and basically all movies based in or about South Boston are an utter disgrace. This movie, and all movies based in or about Southie, are a horribly inaccurate portrayal of a wonderful neighborhood. No, the Irish Mafia does not run Southie. In reality, Southie is generally a safe place to live. I've lived here in Southie all my life and I find movies based in or about Southie as an insult to Southie and it's residents. Movies like this are just a waste of time, not to mention painfully bad to watch just because of the sheer fact that the movie is just so INACCURATE. Even if this particular movie wasn't based in Southie, it would still be a horrible movie just because of it's utterly poor acting. Talk about a waste of a movie studio's money. Not to mention that all attempts at a Bostonian accent in this movie are so bad that they're painful to listen too. If you're not from Boston, don't even attempt to try to talk like us. Just don't, because you'll make a complete fool of yourself.

Let me begin by saying that I have lived in Dorchester and South Boston all of my life, so my opinion may be a bit loaded. Let me also say that I have seen this movie before, 15 different times, all of which with a different title, the first and best version of this story being "Mean Streets" by Martin Scorcese.The idea of people battling against an urban environment for a better life is hardly anything new to American Cinema. it has been here since the early 70's. It has been done and done again. There are great films built around this theme. Some of which will be very hard to outdo.What is amazing is that the vast majority of scripts written by young men who grew up in similar surroundings continue to deal with these issues in less resilient and origional ways.In this film Donnie Wahlberg's 'Danny Quinn' is the ultimate candidate for the phrase, "you can take the boy out of the (insert town here), but you can't take the (insert town here) out of the boy". Arriving home after leaving town for a while Danny is dragged back into the vicious cycle that made him leave in the first place (gee, didn't see that one coming). Try as he might, he can't resist the gravity of his surrounding and is sucked into an blackhole of alcoholism, violence, and abuse. Like I said, nothing original. The film does explore some meaty drama with the Quinn mother played by Anne Meara, then she dies 3/4 of the way though the film, so that's that. The rest of the movie is color by numbers.I should note that the South Boston presented in this film is nothing like the South Boston of today. Yes, it is a mostly blue collar community, yes, the people there are mostly irish americans, yes it can be a tough place, and yes the people are very parochial (enter "forced bussing" into any search engine). However it is not the type of place where gangsters go around having shotgun fights, it hasn't been remotely like this since the 70's when Whitey Bulger's gang was in its heyday. While all of the negative attributes of the community and its history are examined in "Southie" none of the positive attributes are even touched upon. This does not hold true for the film "Southie" rode into cinemas and film festivals on the laurels of: Good Will Hunting (If ever there was true to life picture of a blue collar boston, this is it).Take a look at another recent film about a different Boston community, "Monument Ave". Though this movie suffers from the same cliche problems as "Southie", it explores a theme that many of Boston's blue collar residents can identify with. Set in charlestown, a neighborhood which is known for its "code of silence", the characters in this film squirm as they see their once closed off neighborhood become an area of blue chip real estate for young yuppies looking for an upscale urban home. In "Monument Ave." there is a clear juxtaposition between the violent, troubled townies and their new neigbors. This phenomenon holds true for the real South Boston as well, however the film "southie" does not even touch upon it.In the end it probably does not matter where the setting of the film was. The writers were from boston so they chose southie. It could have been the third moon of Jupiter, but it still wouldn't have made this film any more original, 3/10 stars.

I rented this movie because I read the box too quickly and thought it starred Marc Wahlburg, not Donnie. When I got it home my wife asked me who Donnie was and I realized my mistake. However, I was very pleased with my mistake. This was a very good movie. A real family, good vs. bad and even small time mob interests. No nudity for those interested in that sort of thing.Rose McGowen's acting was very good. Also, she looks gorgeous even when she's made up to look like a white trash alcoholic. The characters' accents do sometimes slip in and out with the exception of Donnie who is from Boston in real life.All in all, it was a very good movie.

As a personal friend of some of the actors I must say that this film is great. I have seen this film and it is outstanding. You should have seen the crowds on Nantucket in June of 1998 trying to catch a glimpse of this movie. The acting is superb and the sountrack is even better. After two years of trying to get this movie on the big screen it is finally going to get its spotlight in the theaters.