Ash Wednesday: Le mercredi des Cendres

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

This is a film about an ex mafia leader getting into trouble with gangs because his dead brother reappeared in the neighbourhood.

The film is initially boring because of poor character development. The film does not tell people what is happening very well, and only towards the middle do people get an idea what on earth was in fact happening. Elijah Wood is obviously miscast. Elijah Wood is very unconvincing as Edward Burns' younger brother, in fact he looks more like the son of Edward Burns. Looks, height, age and physique wise they are too different from each other. This makes the film a lot less credible than it should have been. Otherwise, the plot is not bad, the direction is good, and the sets are nicely done.

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.

Regardless of how you feel about gangster movies, its nice to see a new star come and and take it on his own to make the movie he wanted to make. Edward burns did that here with "Ash Wednesday". With a story-line that might be a little more interesting for catholics and Newyorkers, the movie moves along like a great story with no concern for the lead up that most big hollywood movies have to include. Its nice to a see a person leaving to go meet a character everyone in the audience thinks is going to really reveal the climax of the movie and then get swept away in the "real life like" sidetracks that run us through everyday. Without giving away any of the story here, Id like to say i applaud Burns' obvious conviction to the movie, at times it seems as if he doesnt care if the viewer is comfortable with unfolding events or not. A good suspense mob movie is supposed to do just that, like that first time you watched "Goodfellas" and went crazy when Loraine Bracco and Deniro go for that walk that she realizes will certainly end her life. "Ash Wednesday" doesn't do it as well as "Goodfellas" did but when you are digging around at the video store and cant decide whether to see "Miller's crossing" for the umpteenth time or take a chance; I say Chance AWAY!

First of all, it could have been shorter due to the redundant establishment of the primary story line. A couple more scenes of Ed Burns walking around the streets with that boring musical theme and I may have given up on this film.

Elijah Wood was totally miscast. A more wrong casting of the role of Sean is not imaginable. OK, maybe imaginable if you include Pee Wee Herman. I agree with another writer here that Oliver Platt could've gotten some more dialog and scenes, but that's what it is. He probably liked the idea of playing a heavy for a change. He should do more I think.

I figured the closing scenes to a "T"... from the saloon showdown to the reason for the crew cap and peacoat. I claim no particular brilliance, it seemed pretty obvious.

All in all I'd say watch it when it appears on cable, save the rental fee. A 6.5 - 7.0 rating is generous but I like Ed Burns, stories about Irish street hoods and a plus when it's Hells Kitchen in NYC instead of the Southies. No offense Boston.