Sean Penn, Gary Oldman, Ed Harris, Robin Wright, John C. Reilly, and John Turturro have a lot of film experience. In fact, I don't think I could do the maths to tally up their cumulative total amount of screentime. Having them all working together in State Of Grace should be a good thing, but you have to then consider that director Phil Joanou didn't have much experience. And writer Dennis McIntyre made his feature debut here, although his early death from stomach cancer removed any chance of seeing what other movies he may have written. The inexperience behind the camera ends up negating the vast experience in front of the camera, sadly, and then there's the presence of Sean Penn, an actor who . . . well, he's just sometimes not as good as he thinks he is. Let's all just try to agree on that for now.
Penn plays Terry, a man who reunites with an old best friend, Jackie (Oldman), after a number of years apart. Jackie is a violent criminal, working for a mob ruled over by his brother, Frankie (Harris). Loyalties are tested, people end up dying, and things get a hell of a lot worse when it becomes clear that someone isn't who they claim to be. There's a rat, someone working for the police, and betrayal will inevitably lead to much more bloodshed.
Despite the selection of music videos that he's shot, Joanou doesn't show any real eye for style or captivating imagery here. State Of Grace is a drab and ugly film, and I don't mean that in a way that allows the aesthetic to match the content (because the cast make the most of the few moments that allow them to set off some fireworks, metaphorically speaking). Perhaps hampered by McIntyre's script, which proves incredibly disappointing in how slavishly it follows a template we have already seen so many times before this, or maybe even overawed by, or too reliant on, his leads, Joanou does nothing to make this stand out from a crowded field.
Let's take a closer look at that cast now. Oldman at least has some energy in his performance, even if it's not always the right energy, and he's as captivating as ever. Harris is similarly capable of holding your attention when he's front and centre, and he gets to play his part with an ongoing attempt to stay calm and controlled, even as he feels himself being caught between a rock and a hard place. Wright tries her best in a role that gives her too little to work with, but both Reilly and Turturro are able to do just enough to make their mark, with the former particularly enjoyable in a role that feels a step removed from many of his other performances. Then you have Penn, who simply fails to convince throughout. He's play-acting in a way that would be excusable if you were watching a young child, but is embarrassing when watching a grown man. I do like Penn in some of the roles that have helped him to earn his reputation over the years, but there are times when he just isn't the right man for the job. This is one of those times.
I wish I could praise anything else, even the score from Ennio Morricone feels a bit lacklustre, but there aren't many positives to grasp on to. There are a couple of decent songs tucked away on the soundtrack, and you also get supporting turns from Joe Viterelli and Burgess Meredith. That's it. This just isn't a good film, despite the presence of some very good people doing occasionally good work. I would advise most people to avoid it completely.
3/10
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