At 140 minutes, but a safe bet if you’re in search of entertainment, is The Place Beyond The Pines.
Three films for the price of one, the first stars the capable Ryan Gosling as a motorbike stunt-rider who turns bank-robber to support his illegitimate baby son, born after a one-night stand.
The scenes between Gosling and Eva Mendes (now his real-life girlfriend) have chemistry, and there’s pathos in the way Gosling’s none-too-bright character tries and fails to do the right thing, like the doomed Billy Bigelow in Carousel.
The Place Beyond the Pines, starring Ryan Gosling as Luke, offers the audience a variety of different stories
Eva Mendes and Ryan Gosling have chemistry in the film - but cannot save it from its overly ambitious intentions
The second part traces the career of a cop (Bradley Cooper), who again tries to do the right thing when he becomes a hero within his department and attempts to blow the whistle on police corruption.
The third part of the triptych occurs years later, when the cop’s and robber’s sons become friends at high school. Neither tries very hard to do the right thing.
Derek Cianfrance’s second film is more ambitious than his first, Blue Valentine, and has the sweep of a blockbuster novel.
Unfortunately, Gosling’s charisma unbalances the three stories, making the second and third feel anti-climactic.
Either of the first two sections could have been deepened and expanded to make a decent movie. The third is nowhere near as well acted, and seems tacked on to please a teenage demographic that won’t like the movie anyway.