Live By Night

Cert: 15A; Now showing

Following on from his Oscar for Argo in 2012, Ben Affleck had carte blanche and he decided to go big, for the first time starring, directing and screenwriting (he had a co-writer on The Town). He also chose a risky genre, the Gangster Movie. The reviews so far will perhaps bruise an ego said to be already smarting from the (exaggerated) mauling given to Batman v Superman. But, while Live By Night is unquestionably flawed, it is very enjoyable and extremely watchable.

Affleck plays Joe Coughlin who returns from the trenches of WW1 disenchanted with the country that sent him to war. His father Thomas (Brendan Gleeson) is a police chief in Boston but Joe operates on the other side of the law. When he runs foul of Irish gangster Albert White (Robert Glenister) thanks to their mutual girlfriend Emma (Sienna Miller) Joe takes up with Italian gangsters and moves to Florida. There’s a gorgeous Cuban rum magnate (Zoe Saldhana), a flinty sheriff (Chris Cooper) and his starlet-turned-preacher daughter (Elle Fanning) and that is only a very rough outline.

One of the criticisms levelled at the film is that there is too much going on, and there is. Affleck is also a bit too keen to whitewash a character who is essentially a thug.

The smaller roles are much better written, and often acted, than the main one. Affleck isn’t bad but those supporting performances make the film. There’s a blunt but timely lesson about capitalism and it looks great. As a work of art it is flawed, as a night out there is much to enjoy.