This movie is a combination of a slice-of-life narrative and a character study of Lee Chandler; as played by Casey Affleck, who is a man that is forced to take care of his teenage nephew after the boy's Father suddenly dies. While this overall has a great cast that includes Michelle Williams and Kyle Chandler, with a great stand out supporting role by Lucas Hedges as Patrick the nephew, this movie is undoubtedly a main showcase for Casey Affleck. With a deliberately nuanced performance, Affleck successfully carries this movie with his very sympathetic character.
Although this film is a serious drama in many ways; that's filled with tragedy and life changing decisions, there is also a lot of humor scattered throughout. The dysfunctional relationship between Lee and Patrick, is probably the highlight of seeing this story play out. They have this odd couple thing going, and it's enjoyable to watch. The back stories on the other hand are there to make you cry, and fills in the gravitas quota. Balancing those two different aspects and melding them together, is a tricky thing that Director-Writer Kenneth Lonergan was able to pull off, and is the reason why this movie works as well as it does.
lovedit ENJOYED IT itsokayitsmehitsterrible
