Product Description

Brian (Mark Ruffalo) and Paulie (Academy Award® nominee Ethan Hawke, Best Actor In a Supporting Role for Training Day, 2001) are two lifelong friends who grew up like brothers on the gritty streets of south Boston. They started early as street thugs living by the criminal code, doing petty crimes and misdemeanors that grew increasingly more serious. Eventually they fall under the sway of organized crime boss Pat Kelly (Brian Goodman). As Brian becomes increasingly lost in a haze of drugs and 'jobs,' he consistently disappoints his loyal wife (Amanda Peet) and their two sons. Torn between the desire to be a good husband and the lure of easy money, Brian must make the hardest choice of his life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30724 in DVD
• Brand: HAWKE,ETHAN
• Released on: 2009-04-28
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 100 minutes

Amazon.com
Mark Ruffalo is terrific in What Doesn't Kill You as a South Boston career criminal who since his early teens has done "errands" for the neighborhood crimelord and never considered any other way of making a living. It's the sort of performance wherein the actor so wholly inhabits the character that his every glance, stride, or hesitation is a glimpse into the guy's soul, even as the guy is a person of modest intelligence not given to complex self-expression. That's fascinating to watch (and this may be Ruffalo's career-best work), but it nudges us toward recognizing the film's limitations as well as its core strength. What Doesn't Kill You is an actors' movie; Brian Goodman, its co-writer and first-time director, is himself an actor and plays the gang boss. Virtually every scene is an occasion for actors to conspire in creating a believable texture of life going on. The cast all repay watching, especially Ethan Hawke as Ruffalo's lifelong pal and Amanda Peet as the long-suffering wife who seems to have stepped right out of a Southie kitchen. But there's only the barest outline of a screenplay. We get what every scene is supposed to be about, but they're mostly pieces of things, indications rather than scenes that flow and build; it's a little like seeing a feature-length compression of an entire season of The Wire. Although a foreword announces that "the story you are about to see is true," it's also a pretty familiar story as crime movies go. So, as a genre entry, What Doesn't Kill You disappoints, and its flashback structure--after an opening armored-car robbery scene heavy with dire portent--proves to be a bit of a cheat. Yet for all its shortcomings, the film compels sympathy, especially when it finally locates its eminently human heart during the final half-hour. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

And yet another kids to criminals to wake up call movie
This film is yet another rehash of that glut of films about kids who begin lives of crime early on, go to jail, and come out either enlightened or unchanged. Set in South Boston, WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU happens to star some fine actors in Mark Ruffalo, Ethan Hawke, and Amanda Peet, and their presence makes the film watchable. It is just tiresome to watch repeats an this 'bad kid' (Ruffalo) turned junkie turned convict turned negligent husband and father turned AA whose ability to make decent decisions finds him clueless until the end of the film.

The flavor of South Boston and prison and petty crimes becoming major crimes is well paced by writer/director/actor Brian Goodman. But this rambling story is ultimately boring - except for the pleasure of watching Mark Ruffalo inhabit this loser of a character. An OK movie, not a great one. Grady Harp, May 09

A solid performance film, an average Blu
I was pleasantly surprised in seeing this excellent minimalist crime drama by first-time writer/director (and former jail occupant) Brian Goodman. For as little as the Blu format gets tested with this film though, I still appreciated the landscapes being preserved in 1080 to give this a decent rating.

The story centers on two childhood friends in South Boston and their 20+ year span of semi-organized crime, drugs and family life. Ethan Hawke and Mark Ruffalo both give outstanding performances with all of their usual nuances, and even a few new ones; Hawke's voice and demeanor has changed significantly of late. The trailer shows most of the action in the film, but just expect a well crafted dialogue and bleak visuals story about crime, addiction and loss.

The outer channels get used very little except for two or three gun scenes, and the picture clarity was all about seeing Boston in winter. There were actually no colors in the entire film except for one scene in the jail (bright yellow fencing). This would be more of a display test for your whites, blacks and silver hues. The supplements contain some standard deleted scenes, a typical "everyone is awesome" behind the scenes and a commentary with also first-time writer Donnie Wahlberg (has a small supporting role).

Not a technically outstanding Blu, but a worthy owner for fans of the actors, even for the Amanda Peet followers, she showed the best I have seen in her since she started.

Great true story about responsibility and choices
Where do I begin? Acting - top class. Cinematography - terrific. Story - what can be better than real life stories?
"This is me, this is what I do." Brian (Mark Ruffalo) to his wife - played by Amanda Peet.
He is a Boston criminal. He doesn't know any better and neither does his friend Paulie (Ethan Hawke). Both have been doing jobs for their boss since they were kids.
Things go quite well at first. Brian makes a living. Nothing special but he and his family are doing all right. Then drugs get in the way and he loses control. A job goes wrong and both Brian and Paulie end up in jail.
There Brian finally realizes what he was throwing away all this time. A loving wife who still holds on to him, two great kids, love.
To me the best moment in the film is a scene after Brian is back home from prison and he talks to his eldest son on the porch. He knows he can't let them down again. If he does he will lose everything he ever had.
So he makes a choice, takes the last chance he's got. To be there for those who love him and not to deceive them again. He is strong and together they will make it.
As I said before, great acting by the entire cast, Mark, Ethan, Amanda, but also the kids, the crime boss (Brian Goodman - also first time director).
I loved Mark in Zodiac, Amanda in Syriana and Ethan in Training Day but here they are even better.
Most of the story takes place during the winter and although it's often sunny they toned down the colors adding a little to the weight of the drama.
The Blu-ray is marvelous. Crisp when needed (not overdone thank God) with the winter sun, yet at the same time tolerating a certain softness which adds to the intimacy and warmth.
Get it.