If it wasn't for Lord of the Rings, Clint Eastwood could have added another Oscar to his collection for this powerful, intelligent film. From the first scene it gets under your skin and doesn't let go. The two oscar-winning performances from Tim Robbins and Sean Penn are mesmerising.

Rather harrowing and almost unwatchable in parts (especially if you have kids) but excellent performances all round. Well deserved Oscar for Sean Penn.

I found this movie a little disappointing after all the hype. Firstly it was definitely gritty. That's fine, but there was't enough light to go with the shade. Even the Church confirmation scene seemed gloomy. The emotional range of the three male actors also seemed overly narrow. Clint Eastwood seldom gives away much himself on screen and I wonder if he's influenced these actors to do the same. Penn's brooding performance was excellent but I found Bacon a bit bland. It was Robbins that seemed to explore his character's range more than the others and you'd think his childhood trauma would be an excuse to be more withdrawn than the rest. The plot line with Bacon's character's wife was also jarring.
The start of the movie was cut too quickly, not allowing the viewer enough time to latch onto the characters and their places in the plot.
The accents bothered me too. I know Bostonites don't pronounce their r's like other Americans but they all ended up sounding like George Costanza's Yankees Boss in Seinfeld.
I can't decide whether Eatswoon tried to pack too much into this movie or too little. I wanted to know more about the characters and see them react more to situations, but then I found myself getting too interested in side issues like the strange relationships with spouses (especially Bacon's)only to be cut short. There needed to be more focus on the main character.
And then there's the ending. Not a cliff hanger, not resolved, not anything really just a 'life goes on' ending. It seemed to stop short of the finish line. Perhaps they ran out of money. This is a powerful drama, but lacks light and shade and most of all cohesion at the start. I can't agree with the other reviewer about Eastwood not acting. At least if he'd starred as the cop everyone else would have seemed like they were over-acting.
It's definitely worth watching, but isn't crafted well enough to be called excellent.