"Down the Shore" Review - Written by Anthony T

“Down the Shore” is one of those films that was released onto DVD and Blu-Ray with little buzz. It was surprising because it stars James Gandolfini of “The Sopranos” and Famke Janssen of the “X-Men” films.

The film follows Bailey (Gandolfini), an owner of a rundown amusement park on the Jersey shore, who meets a French stranger (Edoardo Costa) claiming to have the ashes of his deceased sister. He tells Bailey that he was married to her before she died. Soon, some of Bailey’s dark secrets start to haunt him. He gets help from his best friend and former lover (Jenssen), as he comforts his dark past. Can he comfort his deadly past and save his future.

I was hoping that this film would be good considering the talent that was apart of this. After watching “Down the Shore”, I was surprised that this was a missed opportunity to have a good film. The acting in the film was good, but everything else felt dull and flat.

With the exception of the acting, Director Harold Guskin doesn’t do anything to make this film standout. This felt like a boring film with good performances. I hate to say that, but that’s the kind of feeling that I had with this film. The scenes felt like they were directed in a way that it felt so basic. From the way the film was shot to the way that he directs, it felt like that I was watching a TV movie of the week instead of an actual film. When you get that feeling during the course of watching drama, then you easily get bored. I’m not saying that it entirely his fault because most of it was the screenplay that he had, but was not interested with the film for most of it. But to Guskin’s credit, he manages to get the performances that he needs to make this film be at least watchable. The cast was good here James Gandolfini, Famke Janssen and Edoardo Costa did a good job in trying to make the material work. I thought that they worked well with one another, as they tried to make this a good drama. It’s just that the screenplay was bad.

The screenplay is one of those, where it goes off track too much. Writer Sandra Jennings has a hard time trying to keep the plot on track. This really hurt this screenplay, as I thought there was too much attention on the subplot and not between the two main characters. There were times in the film, where the film would drift off into its subplot and stay there for a good ten minutes or so. I would have liked to have seen it go more into the Bailey, his deceased sister and French stranger plotline. It would have made things interesting. The other thing that I didn’t like was the fact Bailey’s sister felt like an afterthought for most of the film. It would’ve been nice to have seen more of the relationship between Bailey’s sister and the French stranger in flashback sequences. It would have made that part of the film interesting instead of the character just being there. It could’ve made for a better film than the one that I saw.

This was one of those films, where it had all of the acting components down, but a bad screenplay and so-so direction hurts this film. If you’re watching “Down the Shore” for the performance aspects then rent it. If not, don’t waste your time on this film.

Review Rating: Two Stars