No Looking Back (1998)

Better Late Then Never

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

The main feeling I had towards the girl's central problem here was... one of total indifference. You see, she has to pick between between two specimens of manhood: The 'Mr Reliable But Boring' who she's been shacked up with for a few years... or her ex, 'The Rebel' who let her down badly once, but has just come roaring back into town. All of these thinly-written protagonists failed to hold my attention for very long, and by the time the oh-so-clichéd ending arrived, I was already preparing supper.Lauren Holly, last seen by me showing off her butt in Dumb & Dumber is a babe... but an utterly bland lead who's choices were as inconsistent as she is dull. As for her potential love interests, one is a rock star in real life (I wouldn't be too pleased as a fan to find out Bon Jovi's latest album was delayed because of THIS) and the other is Edward Burns... the director/writer of this feature. He perfectly masters the art of mediocrity is all his various assignments. Well done, that man.I literally have nothing else to say. Bye for now. 5/10

I too would like to know where to find the list of songs and artists for this movies sound track. There is one song in particular i am fond of. I recently saw the movie and this song was playing shortly but the song really helped to set the mode for the particular seen chosen for it. Over all the other songs played in this movie were good as well. I enjoyed the movie greatly and will continue to watch over and over again. The characters chosen for the film fit script to a 'T' and could have been depicted any more exact to the their roles. I hope everyone gets a chance to veiw this movie. Since i have seen this moving i have opened my horizons to the others films these actors have benn chosen to play in.

It's always refreshing to see movies that deal with ordinary people and their lives. Burns has made it his "thing" to create normal, fragile characters who live very ordinary lives and, in this film at least, are sad and disappointed over how mundane and uneventful their existence is. Burns taps into this genre quite well but here, unlike his excellent debut The Brothers McMullen, his characters aren't as interesting or well defined.Lauren Holly plays a waitress who seems to be bored out of her mind, living with blue collar mechanic Bon Jovi. Her old sweetheart (who completely broke her heart) Burns returns and promises her a better life if she will pack up and go with him.Holly gives an excellent performance in the lead role. She's the best written character as well, and you feel for her and root for her. Other characters aren't as well defined and are fairly one-dimensional and uninteresting, especially Burn's character. The film moves along very slowly and, aside from one scene involving Bon Jovi, avoids any real emotional outbursts. It's very subdued and could have used some form of life injected to it.Cast is mostly excellent. Holly is terrific, Burns good as usual but most unexpected; Bon Jovi is actually quite effective as Holly's unfortunate boyfriend.Praise goes also to the excellent music score. There's not one but three Springsteen songs and in my books that indicates some good musical taste.

This is the second movie I saw, written and directed by Edward Burns. The first I saw was "Sidewalks of New York" and I really enjoyed watching that movie. "No Looking Back" was unfortunately not as good as "Sidewalks of New York", but I still enjoyed watching the movie. The acting was good and I specially enjoyed Jon Bon Jovi, he was great. But I have one little remark: maybe Ed and Jon should have switched parts because Jon has more the look to play the rebel instead of Ed. But that's just a little remark.I highly enjoy Ed Burns' movies. He is capable of making the perfect indies and I think he definitely have to continue making these kind of movies. His style is perfect and the way he tries to tell these stories is perfect as well! Keep up the good work, Ed! I'm really looking forward to see some of your other work! 7/10