My wife and I watched this at home on DVD from our public library. It is a well made movie and the lead actors all do fine jobs. It isn't an entertaining movie as such, the tragedy of a marathon bystander getting his legs blown off followed by the long road back to some sense of normalcy.
The family members featured here are vulgar types, often I wanted to reach in and punch the mom or the dad, I suppose it is authentic, I've never been around Boston blue collar people. They are hard to watch most of the time.
Jake Gyllenhaal is his usual good self as the victim, Jeff Bauman, a worker at Costco who only goes to see the finish of the 2013 Boston Marathon because his on-off girlfriend is running and he wanted to show her he had some responsibility. She is played also very well by Tatiana Maslany as Erin Hurley. Perhaps the best is British actress Miranda Richardson as the mother,
Patty Bauman, who is so irritating all the way through. She is the one I most wanted to punch.
Anyway it is a worthwhile movie if a viewer wants a glimpse into what kind of background this injured person had and how he was able to overcome this tragedy and get on with life.
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