Can someone please explain Blake Livelys role in the plot? I got the romantic tension and her leading the FBI to Doug, but was there anything else?
shareWas her accent even believable? And is anyone really that trashy?
Man this party is like an orgy at a campsite......its ***king in tents.
Yes and yes... Boston is a STRANGE City
shareYes and yes... Boston is a STRANGE City
CHARLESTOWN is being gentrified. BOSTON has been gentrified ever since the Lowells and the Cabots moved in.
shareOne must bear in mind, however, that Boston, like the rest of New England, was originally settled by the Puritans. The Irish were the first ones to emigrate to Boston thereafter. People like the Lowells and the Cabots were in Boston even before the Irish were.
shareShe is basically there to fulfill the 'Waingro' role in Heat - namely, the loose cannon. Like in Heat, she gives the cops information on the last heist. Unlike Heat, however, Affleck and co. are aware that she's not trustworthy from the get-go, but keep her in the circle anyway for 'reasons'.
...For your health.
Affleck and co. are aware that she's not trustworthy from the get-go, but keep her in the circle anyway for 'reasons'.
My apologies, I was trying to be sarcastic about the 'reasons'. Of course they keep her around because she is family. My point is that the heisters were foolish to let her stay in the circle on that basis. She was obviously a mess.
...For your health.
Yes, Krista was a mess, but she also allowed herself to be exploited not only by Doug, Jem and the other heisters, but by Fergie, as well, whom Krista was a drug mule for.
shareShe was also part of their "legit" front operations, e.g. it was mentioned that all the "job" vehicles they used were in her name.
shareThat's correct, Strings101. Moreover, both the Extended Cut of The Town and The Town--Alternate Ending made it clear that, in addition to all the "job" vehicles they used that were in her name, it was also clear that Krista was even more involved in the family bank-and-truck robbing business than the Theatrical cut of The Town made her out to be: She booked the room at the hotel near Fenway Park, where the Fenway Park robbery was to take place, made the New Hampshire run (in which "Mac" Sr. (i. e. Doug MacRay's permanently incarcerated father) hijacked a bread truck up in NH, and after a struggle with the guards, "Mac" Sr. and his companion executed the guards with their own weapons.), obtained the costumes that Doug and his accomplices wore during their heists.
shareShe plays an important role in the climax of the film because shes the one who tips off the cops about the Fenway robbery. She's also there to dramatize Ben Afflecks distaste with his neighborhood and problems escaping it. He wants to get out of his old life and hares the things holding him back and she's one of them.
shareI thought she was mis-cast, and I cringed every time she spoke.
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it's interesting when people say this. im not from boston but have seen this movie with several people who are and they say she nailed the accent and the overall vibe of certain girls who grew up in the situation depicted in the film. most have said she was spot on
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She nailed the complete package smack-dead-center, and I live next door to Charlestown. Blake nailed it dead-bang.
shareBlake and Jem’s characters are possibly the two most accurate boston characters I’ve ever seen in a movie. Mark wahlberg in the departed is accurate also. Blake’s character doesn’t really exist in Charlestown as much anymore, but she nails the role. I grew up a few blocks from Affleck in Cambridge but am 10 years younger, if we’re citing boston credentials in this assessment.
shareI don't think that Shyne's life was ruined at all. In fact, FBI Agt Frawley sincerely wanted to help Krista get her life together, and to help her get off the drugs and alcohol so that she and her daughter, Shyne, could have a normal life.
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just weak role
shareThey're also playing up the 'Betty and Veronica' contrast with her and Claire. Krista, the trashy addicted Veronica represents Doug's old life. The grimy depressing existence he wants so desperately to escape. Claire, the good-hearted wholesome Betty represents the new life he wants - what he could possibly be. He has meaningless sex with Krista that he gets nothing out of, whereas he makes an emotional connection with Claire. One relationship contrasts the other. Krista is there to highlight why Doug is drawn to Claire.
She also seems to be a bit of a foil for Doug himself. Blake Lively described her as someone who wants to escape her situation but has no idea how. She latches onto Doug and thinks he is her way out. Rather than trying to change her own situation, she depends on others and that is why she'll never be able to truly escape. This is in contrast to Doug, who makes the effort to change his fate on his own.
You've made some good points here, ricky_says_hi, but I think that, in a way, Doug is also dependent on others to change his life around. He depends on Claire. Doug blew an opportunity to be a pro ice hockey player, due to the bad choices that he made, followed in his father's footsteps and also became an armed truck-and-bank robber. He also ended up committing 2 first-degree murders (i. e. he gunned down Rusty and Fergie in their own C-Town Flower shop.) and ultimately ended up fleeing to Florida, without Claire, for obvious reasons; taking her with him, as he'd wanted to do, would've put her at risk in more ways than one.
Doug was also dependent on Claire in his desire to change, but the fact that he made one lousy decision after another indicates that he never really straightened out after all.
That's a good point too, and it makes more sense with the original ending where Doug ends up dying in Claire's arms. Ultimately neither of them got anywhere and the people they care about end up separated from them.
Thanks, ricky_says-hi. You've made some very good points, also. Frankly, I think that at some level, both Doug and Claire knew that they could not be together. The idea of their eloping to Florida together was a pipe-dream that was never meant to be.
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