Steve Baker is a night watchman who's in his early 20's but his life is already getting away from him. His band is falling apart, he owes a ton of money for drugs, and he's in love with his best fr...
“Any Day Now” had the potential to be a thrilling take on one of the most fascinating unsolved crimes in history, but falters. Writer / director Eric Aronson’s film does a solid job of re-imagining what could have happened during the infamous Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist, it struggles under the weight of too much exposition, unnecessary backstory, and a sluggish pace that makes the whole thing feel way longer than it needs to be.
A little background on the crime is helpful. On St. Patrick’s Day in 1990, thieves in Boston broke into the museum and walked about with hundred of millions of dollars’ worth of art. It’s the single largest instance of property theft in the world, and the perpetrators were never caught. To this day, the museum is offering a $10 million reward for anyone who can provide information that will lead them to the pilfered artwork.
The movie is a semi-fictionalized story that follows Steve (Taylor Gray), a down-on-his-luck night watchman whose failed music career and crushing debt push him toward an impossible choice: risk it all to pull off the biggest art heist in history or lose everything.
While the setup is interesting, it takes forever to get to the actual crime. The first half of the movie is packed with long-winded dialogue, unnecessary musical interludes, and scenes that don’t add much to the story. You’d hope all of this exposition would build up to a showstopping break-in but when the heist finally happens, it’s…fine. Not terrible, not groundbreaking, and certainly not thrilling. In other words, just okay.
One of the film’s strengths is its portrayal of Boston. Instead of the usual Hollywood clichés (like characters outfitted in Red Sox gear and over-the-top local accents), Aronson offers a more authentic insider’s view of the city. The location settings are terrific, from the gritty diners, backyards, and dive bars. You can tell the filmmakers wanted to capture the real Boston, not just the sanitized tourist version.
While the setting feels lived-in, the characters don’t always. While the cast is trying their best, the performances range from decent to flat-out mediocre, which pulled me out of the story. Guilfoyle particularly deserves better than this.
Overall, “Any Day Now” is an interesting concept weighed down by slow pacing, too much exposition, and a crime story that takes way too long to get going. If you’re really into the Gardner Museum heist, it might be worth a watch. But if you’re looking for a sharp, fast-paced thriller? This one’s probably not it.
