Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Rich Wright The main feeling I had towards the girl's central problem here was... one of total indifference. You see, she has to pick between between two specimens of manhood: The 'Mr Reliable But Boring' who she's been shacked up with for a few years... or her ex, 'The Rebel' who let her down badly once, but has just come roaring back into town. All of these thinly-written protagonists failed to hold my attention for very long, and by the time the oh-so-clichéd ending arrived, I was already preparing supper.Lauren Holly, last seen by me showing off her butt in Dumb & Dumber is a babe... but an utterly bland lead who's choices were as inconsistent as she is dull. As for her potential love interests, one is a rock star in real life (I wouldn't be too pleased as a fan to find out Bon Jovi's latest album was delayed because of THIS) and the other is Edward Burns... the director/writer of this feature. He perfectly masters the art of mediocrity is all his various assignments. Well done, that man.I literally have nothing else to say. Bye for now. 5/10

confirm-2 (I must first preface this review by admitting that I am from a northeastern town similar).After reading some of the reviews here and seeing the movie recently on IFC, I feel that this movie is a little misunderstood.First of all, this movie was not made for everyone. By that I mean that Edward Burns is speaking to a specific segment here. This is a story of everyday life in a working class small Northeastern town. He recreates the ENTIRE environment: groups of people that graduated highschool together and never left, the gossip, the one and only social hangout, all the intrigue and interconnected people, the way they talk and interact with each other, and even the music they like to listen to (there are a couple Bruce Springsteen songs mixed into the soundtrack).After creating this dead on environment, he tells the story. This is where a lot of people here have had problems. Burns shows the monotony of everyday life in this town. I mean, he ACTUALLY shows it on camera: people going to their jobs, talking about mundane stuff, etc. Things that other directors would have merely mentioned through dialogue or other means.This is done for a reason: Burns is trying to put you in this town. As if you are one of those who has been trapped here. He makes an attempt to show you these things so that you'll understand the character's desires to leave.And if you've spent any time in one of these towns, you will understand EXACTLY what he is trying to say. Sorry to say, it's a sort realistic movie. The characters are imperfect, they do dumb things. The awkwardly and badly tell lies to each other. They like normal people.Other than that, I could have done without Bon Jovi. He showed no range of emotions (if my girlfriend stayed out with another guy until 5 a.m., I would think my voice would show a little more inflection at least).Anyway, if you are from this area and want to "go home again", rent this movie. If you aren't and want to see what it's like, see this movie. If you liked any major blockbuster this year, pass.

Eric Chapman A mood and a soundtrack in search of a story. A dull, flat, lifeless exercise so bad that it scares you away from ever seeing anything by Ed Burns again. Gives the words "independent film" a bad name. How did this ever get made? Say what you will about Hollywood's anti-art bottom line mentality but give them credit: they would NEVER ever in a million years greenlight something this slight and inconsequential and God bless them. There's no there there!A drifter, smugly and unappealingly played by Ed Burns himself, returns to his blue collar coastal town to win back his girlfriend from a working class Average Joe played decently by Jon Bon Jovi. That's it. No insights, no spark, no wit, no originality, no surprises. Burns may think he's somehow honoring the so-called working class by depicting their mundane world and petty concerns with such honesty, but the irony is those very same people wouldn't be caught dead going to see a movie like this in a million years. (And God bless them too)There's some pretty shots of ocean waves washing against the shore, cloudy skies and one scene with a swirling camera revolving around Lauren Holly and Bon Jovi, but everything in between is just listless actors reciting unimaginably stale dialogue. It's as if Burns were determined to drain what little potential drama the story had (you crave a scene where Bon Jovi loses his cool and decks Burns for going after his girl but in vain) and replace it with stony silence. But silence has to have meaning, here it has none. Dismal. It IS as bad as everyone says. It sucks the life right out of you.

David S. My biggest grievance with No Looking Back is that it doesn't have a character like the ones Mike McClone played in The Brothers McMullen and She's the One. He had a great chemistry with Ed Burns who just isn't as funny without him. Having said that, No Looking Back is a nice little slice-of-life thing. It won't change your perception of life or anything else except perhaps Lauren Holly who is quite adorable. I give it a 6 out of 10.