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which means to me that it was a well thought out realistically acted damn good story and well worth watching.

You've read the plot outline so I won't rehash that. Burns is quite good as always and the rest of the cast is too. Just a good story about a young woman with dreams she never tried to realize coming to a point in her life when she has to decide whether to try to follow those dreams or just go on with her comfortable life in the small town of her birth. Burns arrives as her former boyfriend, a dreamer who did leave to chase his dreams and found he couldn't catch them. Our heroine sees what could have been, what would be and chooses what could be. Nice ending.

This predictable film will not add anything to Edward Burns' resume. In fact, "No Looking Back", his third directorial effort, has a flat feeling to it, in spite of the people involved with the project. No one decides to go into a losing project, but it appears Mr. Burns was not sufficiently inspired with this tale of a working class situation.

From the beginning, with the arrival of Charlie back home to the small town by the sea, and his encounter with Claudia, the young woman who had stayed behind, we realize where this tale is going. Claudia, who is now involved with Michael, still hasn't been able to forget the man who must have been the love of her life.

The surprise in the film is Jon Bon Jovi in a dramatic role. He plays the kind Michael, who as much as he tries, can't compete against Charlie for the love of Claudia. Mr. Burns, directing himself, should have given the job to another actor because he doesn't appear to be objective in how to play his character. Lauren Holly tries, but her Claudia is, at times, irritating. Blythe Danner also appears as Claudia's mother.

The best thing going for "No Looking Back" is the great soundtrack heard throughout the movie.

My biggest grievance with No Looking Back is that it doesn't have a character like the ones Mike McClone played in The Brothers McMullen and She's the One. He had a great chemistry with Ed Burns who just isn't as funny without him. Having said that, No Looking Back is a nice little slice-of-life thing. It won't change your perception of life or anything else except perhaps Lauren Holly who is quite adorable. I give it a 6 out of 10.

This is the second movie I saw, written and directed by Edward Burns. The first I saw was "Sidewalks of New York" and I really enjoyed watching that movie. "No Looking Back" was unfortunately not as good as "Sidewalks of New York", but I still enjoyed watching the movie. The acting was good and I specially enjoyed Jon Bon Jovi, he was great. But I have one little remark: maybe Ed and Jon should have switched parts because Jon has more the look to play the rebel instead of Ed. But that's just a little remark.

I highly enjoy Ed Burns' movies. He is capable of making the perfect indies and I think he definitely have to continue making these kind of movies. His style is perfect and the way he tries to tell these stories is perfect as well! Keep up the good work, Ed! I'm really looking forward to see some of your other work!

7/10

It's always refreshing to see movies that deal with ordinary people and their lives. Burns has made it his "thing" to create normal, fragile characters who live very ordinary lives and, in this film at least, are sad and disappointed over how mundane and uneventful their existence is. Burns taps into this genre quite well but here, unlike his excellent debut The Brothers McMullen, his characters aren't as interesting or well defined.

Lauren Holly plays a waitress who seems to be bored out of her mind, living with blue collar mechanic Bon Jovi. Her old sweetheart (who completely broke her heart) Burns returns and promises her a better life if she will pack up and go with him.

Holly gives an excellent performance in the lead role. She's the best written character as well, and you feel for her and root for her. Other characters aren't as well defined and are fairly one-dimensional and uninteresting, especially Burn's character. The film moves along very slowly and, aside from one scene involving Bon Jovi, avoids any real emotional outbursts. It's very subdued and could have used some form of life injected to it.

Cast is mostly excellent. Holly is terrific, Burns good as usual but most unexpected; Bon Jovi is actually quite effective as Holly's unfortunate boyfriend.

Praise goes also to the excellent music score. There's not one but three Springsteen songs and in my books that indicates some good musical taste.