Release Date – 10/15/2010 (limited)
Kenny and Betty Anne Waters came from a dysfunctional Massachusetts family. But the two siblings remained very close throughout the years. Kenny has always been the local troublemaker, breaking into houses and stealing from people all over town. The local police know him very well. When there’s a murder/robbery in town, the police officer on the case immediately brings Kenny in for questioning. Lack of evidence sets him free until 2 years later when the police reopen the case with new evidence. Kenny is sentenced to life in prison without parole even though the evidence wasn’t very strong. Betty Anne decides to go to law school and dedicate her life to proving he was wrongfully accused. It’s a heartwarming tale of sibling love. It makes you wonder if you would do the same for one of your brothers or sisters. Its based on a true story which makes it even more inspirational. I enjoyed it very much.
Hilary Swank plays Betty Anne Waters. She isn’t the brightest girl. In fact, she didn’t even graduate high school because her childhood wasn’t exactly “normal”. But the love she has for her brother trumps everything else in her life. She gets her GED, goes to college, then to law school and dedicates close to 20 years just to be able to prove her brother’s innocence. Her obsession causes her to lose her husband and sacrifice time with her two kids. But she has the ultimate ‘Never Say Die’ attitude. As for a character on paper, she was very inspirational. Hilary Swank’s portrayal wasn’t the greatest though. The real great performance comes from Sam Rockwell as Kenny Waters. He’s a real scumbag but he loves his family and would do anything for them. You see him go through a range of emotions while imprisoned that really shows off the acting chops of Mr. Rockwell. Once he goes to prison, he isn’t in the movie as much which was very disappointing as I was loving his character. Supporting characters were a shady police officer played by Melissa Leo and Betty Anne’s best friend played by Minnie Driver. I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked Driver but the conclusion with Leo’s character was unfulfilling.
The movie was directed by actor turned director Tony Goldwyn who hasn’t directed a movie since 2006’s The Last Kiss. He has mainly focused on directing television shows such as Dexter, The L Word and Grey’s Anatomy. He did a great job constructing the poverty stricken area of Ayer, Massachusetts and showing the gradual downfall of Kenny Waters in prison. And the whole time we aren’t even sure if Kenny is innocent or not. Betty Anne never asks him because she doesn’t have to. She believes in her heart that her brother could never murder someone. It was written by Pamela Gray who has worked with Tony Goldwyn before. She does a great job of making the audience wonder whether Kenny is really innocent or not. Of course then the ending pulls at the heart strings and might get the waterworks flowing. With a great inspiring story mixed with a great and not so great performance from the lead characters, this movie narrowly misses the Made mark. One of the negatives would be the rushed timeline as its hard to follow the quick escalation of imprisonment to 16 years later. But I would definitely recommend it as Sam Rockwell makes any movie worth watching.
IMDB – 6.9/10
Rotten Tomatoes – 61%
Movie Wiseguys – 7.5/10