Cathardincu
Surprisingly incoherent and boring
Fleur
Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.
Logan
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
ThousandsOfFilms
As a movie enthusiast for several decades, I've seen thousands of movies. I thought this was one of the very, very best. It's the first time I've given an IMDb rating of 10. The writing was great and the 3 principals gave very strong performances. In fact, I started to search to see if Lauren Holly was at least given a 1998 Best Actress nomination. However, I stumbled across the movie's having been pulled from distribution before 250,000 had seen it. So the selection committee would have never have even considered it. What a shame – I was stunned! I went here to IMDb to see what was the disconnect between my experience and most everyone else's. I saw that 1,378 reviewers gave an average 5.7 (out of 10) rating. The last time I really liked a movie the average was 8.5. I looked at the written reviews and saw a lot of people who really liked it. One suggested that if one was looking for a blockbuster or escapist fare one wouldn't like it. Maybe the writing was too good, too true to life? However, several Burns' slice of life films had been blockbuster hits so that couldn't be the whole story. Maybe, people got so into the film that out of the 3 plausible endings 2 out of 3 were deeply disappointed by the 1 selected. However, I contend, the 95% of the movie that went before the ending had the value of showing people struggling with difficult emotional decisions that were somewhat beyond their control as they were intertwined with other humans struggling with their own difficult emotional decisions – so the audience could just select whatever virtual ending one wanted and be moved by the heart of the movie. There's no objective right choice, just choose what's right for you and realize there's no guarantees in life. So my first few sentences notwithstanding, don't go in with high expectations – the statistics seem to be against it. If you only see a few films, then go with the super popular films. However, if you've "seen them all" and are casting about for something above mediocrity and you like slice of life, it's worth the gamble. I read the negatives and disagreed and they gave no insight into objective flaws – they just describe why they personally didn't like seeing that particular slice of life, etc. It's a GREAT film, but you might just not like it.
Theo Robertson
I`d never heard of Edward Burns untill I saw NO LOOKING BACK but if his other films are anything like this then I won`t be very sorry if I never hear from him again . This low concept movie has little to recommend it , there`s no real plot and the characters are unlikable and slightly foul mouthed . Okay it`s fairly well acted ( Even by Jon Bon Jovi ) but that`s not enough for audiences who are looking for an entertaining story
flimbuff
which means to me that it was a well thought out realistically acted damn good story and well worth watching.You've read the plot outline so I won't rehash that. Burns is quite good as always and the rest of the cast is too. Just a good story about a young woman with dreams she never tried to realize coming to a point in her life when she has to decide whether to try to follow those dreams or just go on with her comfortable life in the small town of her birth. Burns arrives as her former boyfriend, a dreamer who did leave to chase his dreams and found he couldn't catch them. Our heroine sees what could have been, what would be and chooses what could be. Nice ending.
David S.
My biggest grievance with No Looking Back is that it doesn't have a character like the ones Mike McClone played in The Brothers McMullen and She's the One. He had a great chemistry with Ed Burns who just isn't as funny without him. Having said that, No Looking Back is a nice little slice-of-life thing. It won't change your perception of life or anything else except perhaps Lauren Holly who is quite adorable. I give it a 6 out of 10.
