What Doesn't Kill You

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 Product Description Ethan Hawke and Mark Ruffalo lead an all-star cast in this drama about a pair of childhood friends from the gritty streets of South Boston that turn to crime as a way to get by, ultimately causing a strain in their personal lives and their friendship. Also starring Donnie Wahlberg, Amanda Peet and Brian Goodman.