Ash Wednesday

"Ash Wednesday" is a 2002 film written, directed by, and starring Ed Burns. The story concerns one day, Ash Wednesday, and the events that happen on that day to two Irish-American brothers, Francis (Burns) and Sean (Elijah Wood).

Three years earlier, Sean, while tending bar, overheard two thugs plan to kill Francis over money he owed, so Sean took them out. In order to keep him from being killed, Francis, a neighborhood priest, and a mobster fake Sean's death while he goes to Texas to hide out.

Unfortunately, on the evening before this particular Ash Wednesday, Sean, who has returned to his brother's apartment, decides to go to a neighborhood bar for a drink. There he's spotted by several people, including an ex-girlfriend of Francis' who wants to get even with Sean's brother for dumping her.

In the Catholic church and in several other religions, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the period of time preceding Easter. People go to church and receive a cross in ashes on their forehead to remind them of death, of the sorrow they should feel for their sins, and of the necessity of changing their lives.

Normally during Lent people make some sort of sacrifice. Francis, who with his father was a hit man, is surrounded by death and under constant threat of it. The sacrifice he makes is somewhat drastic.

This was an interesting movie with some good performances, particularly by Burns. The Irish atmosphere, with the dimly lit bar, the beer-drinking, the Catholocism, and the sense of family, is right on. Elijah Wood, however, is absurd casting. He is too childlike and seems terribly out of place.

My problem with this film is that it's based on a ridiculous premise. Why, when you know you're supposed to be dead in order to risk being killed, would you after only 3 years walk into a neighborhood bar and have a drink?

I can understand coming back and contacting your family - from somewhere else - and going out for a drink in another area. But the plot for me is built on a moronic idea that this guy was in his brother's apartment above the bar - dangerous enough - and then just for the helluva it went out. I just didn't buy it.

This is a dark film about sad people with sad lives. Much of what happened on Ash Wednesday could have been avoided if Sean had just stayed hidden. Certainly the script could have been written to make the plot more believable, to in a sense force Sean to return - finding out he had a child, learning his wife was sick, his mother was dying, whatever. Given the way it was done, the film did not work for me. I don't recommend it unless you want to be depressed and frustrated.

It's Ash Wednesday. You know that because everyone is running around with an ash cross on their foreheads.

The movie takes place on that single day in hell's Kitchen. Writer, actor, and director Edward Burns plays Francis, a reformed gangster, who spends most of the first part of the movie chasing down a rumor that his brother Sean (Elijah Wood) is still alive.

I thought I was watching Scarface. The language was just as bad. It was hard to find any line that could be repeated.

Fairly good story with great performances including the above and Rosario Dawson, as well as Oliver Platt.

In "Ash Wednesday", Burns spins a yarn about a Hell's Kitchen bar owner with a checkered past (Burns) whose younger brother (Wood), who's supposed to be dead, has been seen in the neighborhood (duh) giving rise to inquires from all corners while igniting the plot. In typical Burns fashion, this story about low level Irish-American hoods, is a Mulligan stew of relationships and the non-stop yammering required to explain them and give them impetus. Burns keeps his story in a box, revealing a piece at a time, ostensibly to create suspense, while leaving a trail of gaping plot holes necessary to make the story work. In addition to such dents and dings as having the bro prep to leave town while conveniently leaving his wallet at home to be discovered by the bad guys (duh), Burns makes another huge mistake. The protagonists, whom we're supposed to care about otherwise there's no reason to watch, are all murders. (duh) "Ash Wednesday" is a dark, gritty shoot recommended only for fans of the principals and people into bottom of the marquee crimeland flicks. (C+)

I first watched this a number of years ago, stumbling in from the pub after a few too many, and I seem to recall rather enjoying it. As is often the case however, on re-viewing it a second time, stone cold sober, I've completely changed my mind…

First, let's talk about the good things. The photography was excellent, the direction was good, and the casting was inspired in some cases: Malachi McCourt (younger brother of Frank McCourt, of Angela's Ashes fame) as Whitey, and James Handy as the parish priest were both noteworthy, in relatively small parts, but that same casting was monumentally awful in the case of Elijah Wood… If ever an actor was born not to play his part, he is that man… This was even worse than his miscast in 'Green Street', which was so bad it was almost watchable… I thought Rosario Dawson was good in a diluted, under-used sort of way, and looked most delicious in heavy makeup (this is set in the early 80's, remember), and even the man himself, Edward Byrne was believable in places (BTW, note to others-always refer to him as 'Edward'-Ed Byrne is an Irish comedian, which when reviewing this film could get very confusing)… The only really obvious fault here was the woeful waste of Oliver Platt-if you can book talent like him, then you really should use him!..

I had no problem with the linearity of the plot-after all, the whole film takes place over less than 24 hours, so keeping it simple was probably the best thing to do-and if you watched shaking your head in disbelief at the asinine stupidity of some of the characters, watch 'State of Grace'-an infinitely better film, also set in the criminal underbelly of Hell's Kitchen, the consensus is that these are stupid people doing stupid things…

Now the bad bit-and it's simply so bad it lets down the whole film, taking it from what could have been a decent pot-boiler into a risible farce-it's the dialogue-Edward Byrne is credited as the only writer, and it soon becomes obvious that this is simply not his field. The whole film sounds like it's been written by a 12 year-old… I know these are supposed to be 'stupid Mick immigrants of different generations', but really-people (adult people) just don't talk like that!.. It's not the swearing (although God knows, there's enough of it), it's the complete lack of subtlety, double-entendres, jokes & banter-all the things that make up daily conversations… When it's missing, you really notice it… The only really believable conversations are those that Pat McNamara (the barman, Murph) has with his customers-and those may seem more realistic simply because they were ad-libbed… Michael Leydon Campbell as Jimmy Burke was funny, but his were just comments and interjections-no-one really engaged with him… The rest is just too awful for words (pun intended)… And this makes the thing difficult to watch-you'll end up shouting at the screen , losing your temper, and not enjoying the film… It's a shame, because it should have been such an easy thing to fix…

So, I'm afraid my advice is this… If you see 'Ash Wednesday' advertised in your listings, and you've never seen it-give it a go by all means, but don't say I didn't warn you-personally, I'll be watching 'State of Grace' or 'Road to Perdition' instead

I'm sorry to sound so cynical, but I have almost nothing good to say for this film. The majority of the acting was superb, but I think Elijah Wood was cast wrong in this part. Firstly, he hasn't the proper accent for the film, secondly, he's to cute to possibly kill people and then run away, thirdly, he's just not mafia material. As much as I love Elijah Wood, he was this movies greatest flaw. The rest of the performers were well-cast and did a spectacular job.

It was a very freakish movie, filmed with a very gritty sensibility on the part of the director, Edward Burns. I did enjoy the film style, and the angles were very visually interesting.

The plot was not well thought out. I'm sorry to say it, but It looked like Edward Burns (also the writer) didn't take the needed time to go over his scrip and work out the screw-ups and enrich the plot a bit more. The film feels hastily written, and looks hastily made.

For enjoyability, I give it an "okay". They use far too much profanity and although the plot is captivating, it gets boring about the time of the first gunfight. I'd recommend this to a very small group of people, and only if they really want to see a weird film about death. If that's the case, I think you'd just be better off with "The Godfather" because this movie just isn't up to par. And the ending was horrible.