Lloyd and Jeff Bridges
Aside from the fact that it’s impossible to watch this 1994 movie now without being reminded of the recent Boston Marathon bombing (the film’s set-piece is a terrorist explosion in Copley Square, the location of last month’s attack), there’s also the fact that Blown Away isn’t really a good movie to begin with. Still, it gets points for casting Lloyd Bridges as Jeff’s uncle. This being Boston, the elder Bridges’ performance is full of Irish blarney, while the younger Bridges, playing a bomb squad investigator, offers his usual understated performance full of inner demons who stay inner.
It’s a fun contrast, and an instructive one. Lloyd, after all, was often full of boiled ham, but his showmanship, his old-school eagerness to entertain and give viewers their money’s worth, is of no small value. But if you prefer the more modern, Method-informed style of movie acting, one that aims for psychological realism rather than for the back row seats, then Jeff’s your man. Either way, both men seem to display a mutual appreciation and affection that, by all accounts, marked the pair’s real-life relationship.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BndrV7tS08U]