On M List of Movie Reviews

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Monument Ave. (1998)

Rate: 4
Viewed: 7/20

MonumentAve
7/20: While Monument Ave. is about Irish losers doing loser things, I've been desperate to be told why I should care.

For a short movie, it runs too long, and there's an editing issue in spots. For example, a cop stops two guys jacking a Ferrari; one of them runs away with the heat following him, so what happens afterwards? Instead, the movie cuts to guys walking down a street while having a chat.

Plenty of thespians such as Famke Janssen, Martin Sheen, and Ian Hart are given ample screen time to develop their characters, but none of them turns out to be interesting. Instead, they go through their lives as if it's the same as yesterday. So, why am I being bored to death?

Mutton chops and all, Denis Leary is fine, but for only five minutes of screen time, Billy Crudup steals the show. Because of the former's hockey and Irish background, Monument Ave. looks like a perfect pet project for him. Yet the rest of the country yawned, causing the film to gross $333,760 against a budget of $11 million. It means not many people in Boston were enthusiastic about coming out for this work of Irish crap.

All in all, covering the same subject minus the ethnicity, Cop Land is better than Monument Ave.