# Snitch (1998)

### reviewed by
Dennis Schwartz

MONUMENT AVE. (director: Ted Demme; cast: Denis Leary (Bobby O'Grady), Ian Hart (Mouse Murphy), Jason Barry (Seamus O'Grady), John Diehl (Digger Bruce), Famke Janssen (Katy O'Connor), Colm Meaney (Jackie O'Hara), Billy Crudup (Teddy Timmons), Martin Sheen (Hanlon), Jeanne Tripplehorn (Annie), Greg Dulli (Shang), Noah Emmerich (Red), 1998)

A realistic, hard-boiled peek at an old Irish, close-knit neighborhood, in Boston's blue-collar Charlestown section. The neighborhood is beginning to change a bit with "yuppies" moving in nearby; and, then, there is the more dangerous threat to them of blacks possibly moving in. This is upsetting to these insulated residents, fearful of what they don't and can't understand. The focus of the film, is on Bobby O'Grady (Denis), who is living with his mum, while being unemployed and hanging out with Mousey (Ian) and his cousin from Dublin, Jason (Seamus), and his other bar cohorts. They steal cars for the local crime boss of the area, known as Jackie O (Colm), who tightly controls the neighborhood with a menacing friendliness. Jackie O strictly enforces the code of the neighborhood, making sure that no one squeals to the cops. His motto is: "loyalty is what counts the most."

What makes this over-used type of storyline for many recent films, stand out from the rest, is that there is no mistake, this is the actual mentality of the neighborhood. The film is seen through the eyes of Bobby, the film's low-life protagonist, we are stuck with him, perhaps, to a certain extent even commiserating with him, seeing that he can't escape from being born into a life of crime, even if he has a good mum and doesn't appear to be a really bad sort of a person, just a little wild and rough in spots. He has no one around to point him in the right direction. Now having someone around, still might not have been enough to change him, since he is inarticulate and intractable.The one person, Jason, whom he could talk to, he can't, because Jason could only express his anguish that things are rotten over here and he does not find Bobby to be receptive to what he says about altering his behavior. That is the deep sadness about the film, it traps everyone into its malaise, and we feel that there can be no getting out of the neighborhood or the criminal ways these street people cling to.

    It all seems so pointless.

When Jackie O starts rubbing out those close to Bobby, just on the perception that they might have said something to the police, Bobby starts a slow boil. He is unable to think straight about what he should do; but, breaking the code of silence is never one of his options. Thrown into the mix, is a sexy neighborhood girl, who is a bit of a head-case herself, Katy (Famke). She is Jackie O's girl, but is seeing Bobby on the side; and, is extremely jealous if Bobby goes after any other girl. This is evident in the scene that really summarizes the direction the story is going, when Bobby, out of frustration, at seeing Jackie O and Katy together at the local bar they hang out in, decides to pick-up an attractive yuppie, Annie (Jeanne). She came into the local bar out of curiosity. This does not go well, and he is rejected by her. Then the most annoying and daring scene in the film takes place, as he goes riding with his pals, and they spot a black man in their neighborhood, and even though nothing comes of this, the violence and hatred shown to this outsider, clearly shows how narrow their lives are. This incident becomes transfixed on our protagonist forever, forewarning us, that there is no way out for him.

MONUMENT AVE. works well as a potently atmospheric film, that captures the mood of a neighborhood but cannot penetrate the souls of the individuals who live there. The boundary line from yuppieville to blue-collarville, is Monument Ave., and our boy and the other boys can't cross the boundary line; that is, without being thieves. Everything is empty and missing from their lives. They have inane conversations about movie stars' tits and their frivolous adventures, while snorting coke and getting boozed up. But, even with all this bravado, they feel and act like losers. The Irish cop Hanlon (Sheen) knows them as well as any outsider really can, having grown up in the "hood," even though, he now lives in the more affluent suburbs. He knows them from his dealings with them, that their code of silence is all that one can expect from them.

The power of the story stalled somewhere in the midst of all the turbulence in the young men' lives, leaving them with no place to go after all the cursing and shooting pauses for a break. As the message is simply, that nothing changes here. If you don't go along with the way things are done by the crime bosses, your only other choice is a dead-end job.

Bobby has this anguished look on his face, as he does what he has to do and is as successful as he will ever be in this lifetime. He settles his old debts the only way he knows how to; and, his friends drink a toast to him, and the inane conversation mixes in with the bar music, as the picture fades out on this powerful but unfulfilling film.

    REVIEWED ON 11/9/98                GRADE: B-

Dennis Schwartz: "Ozus' World Movie Reviews"

    http://www.sover.net/~ozus

© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED DENNIS SCHWARTZ

The review above was posted to the rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due to ASCII to HTML conversion.

Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews