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Drug dealer, Monty Brogan (Edward Norton), has one day of freedom before
he goes to prison for seven years. He decides to spend his last day saying
goodbye to his friends and family, having a nice farewell party, and finding
out who ratted him out to the DEA. His young girlfriend, Naturelle (Rosario
Dawson), is one of the people he suspects, but she seems to love him too
much to betray him. His father (Brian Cox) is a hard-working man who owns
an Irish pub; he wants the best for his son and advises him to skip town,
even if that means never seeing him again.
Monty weighs his options - he could run, kill himself, or go to prison
and face the consequences of being a "pretty white boy" in a
tough, hostile environment - Monty wants to pick "D: None of the above".
His two best friends come out with him on his last night: Jakob (Philip
Seymour Hoffman), a quiet poetry teacher at the high school (he has a thing
for one of his students), and Slaugherty (Barry Pepper), a successful,
cocky Wall Street trader who's raking in the dough. Both say they're willing
to do anything for their friend and as the 25th hour approaches, they're
going to get the chance to prove it.
This is not a quick-paced movie (remember, they have to cover 24 hours).
But it's not supposed to be an action-movie; it's a character-study about
friendship (what really makes life-long friends stay together, even when
one makes bad choices). With all the complicated relationships, it's rather
thought provoking. You believe these three guys have been friends forever,
even though they have all gone their separate ways.
Edward Norton gives another fine performance. Even though his character
deserves to be in prison, you still want things to work out for him. Barry
Pepper is awesome as a man who isn't afraid to show real emotion (we're
huge suckers when it comes to this). There are two speeches in the movie
that are incredible powerful and not something you usually see in the movies
(one is Barry's talk about standing by and watching your friend's downfall
and the other is Edward's bathroom monologue).
The movie is not about the final choice Monty makes, but about the choices
he made leading up to the end. You get to see what his options look like,
but the ending is ambiguous enough that you get to draw your own conclusion.
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