YMMV / Mystic River

• Award Snub:
  • Many feel the film version was robbed of the Best Picture Oscar by The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Many believe The Return of the King won Best Picture because the previous two installments had also been nominated but had lost.
  Clint Eastwood: We got Hobbitized.
  • A lot of people felt that Kevin Bacon deserved more recognition (especially an Oscar nod) for his role but was overlooked because this is a film packed with heavy hitters putting in some of their best work ever.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Laurence Fishburne's casting as Whitey Powers became even funnier when it was revealed that he'd been cast as Perry White in Man of Steel.
• Jerkass Woobie: Jimmy. The guy isn't the cleanest or nicest of characters, not to mention he has criminal underworld connections, and one can argue he crosses the Moral Event Horizon upon forcing Dave to admit to Katie's murder before killing him and disposing of his body in the Mystic River. But it is impossible not to feel even an ounce of sympathy for him after seeing his reaction to the news of his daughter's death.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • The one that forms both the plot and shapes the characters as adults is Dave's molestation by two pedophiles who posed as cops.
  • Though there's a lot of grey morality at play and regret over the action, Jimmy's murder of Dave is this. At the end of the day it's a self-serving half-cocked revenge ploy that they refuse to take responsibility for. Annabeth's complicity in covering it up is similarly self serving, dismissing an unjust murder just for their own peace of mind.
• Retroactive Recognition: That's Emmy Rossum as the murdered Katie.
• Tear Jerker: Jimmy's raw, primal grief when he finds out his daughter was killed is absolutely heartbreaking. Virtually everyone agrees this scene alone earned Sean Penn that Oscar.
• The Woobie: Dave and then some.
  • Brendan. He's lost both his girlfriend and brother by the end of the story.

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