Rent The Boondock Saints (1999)

Saints and Sinners - The Boondock Saints review by CP Customer

I have to admit to only renting this out of curiosity after seeing the superb documentary 'Overnight' which chronicled the dramatic rise and fall of writer and director Troy Duffy. After seeing the aforementioned documentary which revealed what a truly revolting individual Duffy is, the temptation to attack 'Boondock Saints' is pretty high, though in reality it isn't that bad a film. It's certainly no masterpiece, and like many first time writer-directors Duffy struggles to find his own voice and style. His direction often meanders between the styles of John Woo, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and numerous other imitations, and the result is a schizophrenic mish mash of styles. And while individual scenes are not badly done, when put together as a whole they don't really gel. As the film progresses there are huge leaps within the plot and you're often left with little sense of where you are or how you got there. The dialogue is sometimes witty and clever, but at other times tries too hard to be and comes across a clichéd and cheesy. Overall, 'Boondock Saints' is pretty average stuff, but on the whole extremely watchable. If you've not seen 'Overnight' the documentary which chronicles the making of this film, I highly recommend you watch it. It explains why, despite making a half decent film, and certainly one that gained cult status and made millions in video and rental sales, Troy Duffy will never make a film again.