Two If By Sea

By Deane Barker •

While it’s marvelous on a small scale, Two If By Sea falls apart when viewed from a distance. Denis Leary and Sandra Bullock click wonderfully as Frank and Roz; a small time hood and his girlfriend who’ve stolen a $4 million painting.

The first 15 minutes set the stage for a splendid road film, but the whole thing bogs down when Frank and Roz decide to hide out in an upscale New England mansion while the owners are on vacation. The film breaks down even further when we learn that Roz is unhappy, and there’s a meaningless – though tremendously funny – subplot involving four of the stupidest criminals I’ve ever seen. The individual performances and several individual scenes – Leary works wonders with a fishing pole – are excellent, and the dialogue between the two leads is almost as good as Vince and Jules from Pulp Fiction.

However, there’s no real climax; the film just sort of fades away. In the end, Two If By Sea left me sadly unfulfilled, and it completely failed to pay off on what was tacitly promised in the first 15 minutes.

C+

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