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  • Aluminum Christmas Trees: There aren't 300 bank robberies a year in the city of Boston, but in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a whole, and usually along the lines of "worker pocketing from the cash register" and "extortion note" rather than "automatic weaponry and creative masks".
  • Award Snub: Jeremy Renner's Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor was the only nod it received.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: Jeremy Renner as Jem got the most praise for acting and the film's only Academy Award nomination, as well as the character himself.
  • He Really Can Act: Ben Affleck restored faith in his acting abilities and Blake Lively proved there is more to her than Serena van der Woodsen. Everyone knew Jon Hamm could already act but this showed he could go all the way.
  • Magnificent Bastard: Doug MacRay is a smooth, noble bank robber who works with his gang, having pulled off successful heists for years. When his trigger happy partners take bank manager Claire as a hostage, Doug ensures Claire's escape before starting a romance with her in his public persona, genuinely falling for the woman as he continues to rob armored cars and adapt to new variables on the fly to avoid capture. Forced into One Last Job by his employer Fergie under threat of Claire being hurt, Doug does his best to pull off the doomed heist, and though the whole operation is bungled by outside interferences, Doug evades detection, kills Fergie for past transgressions, and flees to the other side of the country. With the FBI agents on his tail totally fooled by his escape, Doug takes time to say goodbye to Claire and leave her a small fortune, promising to see her again one day.
  • Memetic Mutation: "Friendship Goals!"note 
  • Moral Event Horizon: You know Fergie is a goner when he tells Doug that he hooked his mother on coke and indirectly caused her suicide.
  • Narm: The look of humiliated horror on Fergie's face when he realizes that he's about to get his crotch shot off by Doug at the end.
  • One-Scene Wonder: Chris Cooper as Doug's father, Stephen MacRay. Also, Pete Postlethwaite is on screen for hardly more than 5 minutes, but makes the most of every moment in an intense, genuinely frightening performance as Fergie the Florist.
  • Special Effects Failure: At least twice during the North End police chase, you can see ramps in the gutters near street corners that are meant to allow the stunt drivers to clip the curbs without damaging their vehicles.
  • Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Given the gritty nature of the film, it can be hard to root for any of the characters in the cast, up to and including Doug himself. Only Claire is 100% sympathetic.
  • Unintentionally Sympathetic: It's hard not to feel a little bit sorry for Krista, considering she seemed to at least feel something for Doug whereas he was just using her for sex. Blake Lively described her as someone who wanted to escape her situation just like Doug, and hoped he would be her way out. The last we see of her, she's in the hospital and her daughter has been taken off her.
    • In the alternate ending, she's the one who gets the money from Doug.

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