The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford

Easily the longest title of any movie that I've watched, The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford is a new release, which stars Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck, brother of liberal activist and sometimes actor Ben Affleck (pronounced Aflac, like the duck).

The movie is based on the story of Jesse James and most of the facts are true, at least as true as the legend has been passed over history. I made the mistake of looking up Jesse James and Robert Ford on Wikipedia while I was watching the movie and spoiled the ending for myself.

The movie kept me interested and always on edge, but not because of its constant action and dialog. It seemed like someone was always about to get shot. Sometimes it was true, sometimes it was not. (hey that rhymed, Dr. Seuss!)

The problem with the movie is that it was 2 hours and 39 minutes long. I watched an hour of it after dinner when the kids went to gymnastics, then I continued watching the rest of the movie at 10pm, which means I didn't finish watching it until 20 minutes to midnight.

Brad Pitt was Brad Pitt in the movie, so no one should expect an Oscar out of his performance. Casey Affleck, however, played a convincing coward who wasn't too bright. Now I don't know if that's because he is a coward who's not too bright or if he is actually that good of an actor.

Overall I gave this movie 3 stars. They could have trimmed 45 minutes from the movie, such as the 3 minute scene of a guy approaching on a horse. The dialog in places could have kept a better tempo. Most people I know don't talk that slow. However, I am a sucker for historical movies, so it wasn't a total waste on me.