I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

I completely disagree with the below comments. This film was stellar. I have been searching for a compelling film with the subject of the Irish mob. This movie is suspenseful without glorifying mob violence. The main actors portraying the sons of a once powerful figure in the Irish mob seems pretty authentic. The mob action is good. Also, despite the fact that this seems to be a lower budget independent film, there are high production values. The gritty lighting of the movie helped set the tone. The only real weakness I can think of is that there is not a sequel or a prequel showing Francis Sullivan's past life. That would make for a good mob movie. One plot question I had was how Sean Sullivan had money to just live in Texas, then again he did get a job as a farmer out there. All of the supporting cast portray their characters with low key class, which makes their performances seem quite believable. The musical score was good, and the soundtrack of early eighties rock provided excellent time period setting markers.

This must have been the movie that taught Eddie Burns the lesson that casting is the most important part of getting a good performance out of your actors and making your story believable. Elijah Wood: Totally wrong for the Sean part. Ed Burns owns the Francis part and watching Elijah Wood play his younger brother is like watching a kid off the monkey bars trying to stand up to a high school bully. They are not even on the same playing field. And we are to believe that this same kid is married to Rosario Dawson. The prospect of this matchup is like watching Dudley Moore and J-Lo dating.All of the other good stuff that is going on: Period piece of Hell's Kitchen, etc., is overshadowed by the bad casting decision of having Elijah Wood be Burn's brother. Whatayagonnado? Lessons learned.

When i saw this film at my local video store, i was immediately attracted to it considering that i am a fan of gangster films myself such as Tarantino's early work and of course the brilliant Mr Scorsese and the cover and back cover blurb provided me with the impression that what i was about to be viewing was similar to a "reservoir dogs" style feature and subsequently something that i would be comfortable with. A competent cast including Edward Burns, Elijah WOod and Rosario Dawson not to mention other smaller named yet equally impressive actors also cemented the impression that this would be a good film but at the conclusion of the film and its ridiculously predictable ending, i was left thinking that this was a potentially brilliant film but it just didn't quite cut it.An edward burns directed feature, "ash Wednesday" is based in 1980's Hell's Kitchen New York in which Francis (played quite solidly by Ed Burns) is a reformed man; reformed from the ways of murder and crime that is so common in his neighbourhood. slowly but surely, through the weaving of time and the painstakingly slow emergence of dialogue, we are presented with the story of his little brother, Sean (Elijah Wood) who had somehow (not wishing to reveal here) plunged himself into a deadly situation where the local thugs of the neighbourhood wished him to be dead. His arm was later found, and the neighbourhood presumed a bloody and horrible demise That was three years ago. Now, Francis has been facing rumours throughout the neighbourhood that his little brother, Sean, despite being accepted as dead, has come back to the neighbourhood and is alive and well. So, what are the consequences of this? Obviously, the thugs that thought sean to be dead now want to know what the hell is going on, and through their somewhat violent nature, are supposedly going to wreak havoc throughout the entire neighbourhood if sean is still alive. that's what I though was going to happen. its a simple plot, and one that i thought would have been developed into many more layers to keep our interest. but i was left with nothing, and the film emerged as simple as the blurb that described it. with sean's old wife being thrown into the mix and an incredibly weak allusion to the mafia and the mob, edward burns has really created a film without much substance whatsoever.elijah wood is seriously miscast as Ed Burn's little brother, Sean, and is completely unbelievable as a married man, especially betrothed to the likes of rosario dawson who could more believably be cast as his mother. the plot was underdeveloped, and even though this didn't turn out to be the gangster film i was looking for, i was still interested in the emergence of the reunification of these two estranged brothers and the emergence of their love for one another. i barely saw it. no disrespect to Mr Burns because it is quite evident that there was an attempt at portraying the love of these brothers, but when the likes of Good Will Hunting and Raging Bull have set the standards of showing the frailties of human nature, "ash Wednesday" was far from developing interest the way that it had the potential to do.however, excellent acting from a talented young cast as well as other supporting actors ensured a credible film but an underdeveloped one nonetheless. The dialogue is good, but doesn't tie in enough with the overall plot and hence ensures a thick wad of words that was unnecessary but was nonetheless typical of Burns' slick writing ability. Usually, it works, but that style of writing wasn't appropriate for this film and hence didn't amp it up the way that tricky dialogue generally does for film. the cinematography and camera work was simple yet quite effective, and the editing did its job as well. The narrative structure that was used also worked and burns, to give him his required credit, has used an effective way to tell the story through keeping the audience themselves in the dark and slowly drawing us thicker into the plot. thus, it would have been brilliant, if the plot we were being drawn into was any good. but, like i mentioned before, it was too simple.all in all, "ash Wednesday" is a simple movie with too much baggage and not enough substance. good acting lifted it up, but the miscasting of Elijah Wood (as talented as he is) as Sean heaved whatever credibility the film had out the window. Burns indicates his tremendous potential as a big time film director, but just doesn't perform with this fairly weak feature film. i just hope that sometime in the future he will have the time to re-do it, and carve a piece of art out of this potential masterpiece. however, i have no doubt we'll be seeing better things out of Mr Burns and, on that note, I look forward to watching his next film.

Long, dull film with Edward Burns trying to go straight in 1980s Hell's Kitchen. He seems to be caught between the Church and two rival "mafia" families. To make matters worse, his brother (Elijah Wood) is supposed dead after killing three men even thought his bitter former girlfriend (Julie Hale) claims to have seen him in a local bar. To make things even more complicated he's had an affair with the brother's wife (Rosario Dawson). Of course Wood has been hiding in Texas but is such an idiot he comes back to New York and immediately hits the bars, thus starting a whole new round of killings.The film has no life at all despite a good music score. Endless meaningless scenes of people walking in and out of doors, up and down stairs, and loving shots of local architecture just drag this out beyond endurance. And while the Burns character might have been interested as a conflicted "hero," the other characters are so unlikable and stupid it's hard to stick with this one. Wood gives an atrocious performance and is never believable for a minute. Dawson, Hale, Oliver Platt, James Handy, Malachy McCourt, and others are OK but it's not enough. The murky interiors, ridiculous dialog, and bad acting make this the worst of Burns' film efforts. And the ending is an anticlimax because the audience has long since departed.