The Groomsmen (2006)

Has any filmmaker who came up through the indie movement suffered as enduring a backlash as Edward Burns? The spitballs arrived with his first movie, The Brothers McMullen, which a lot of women despised because they thought Burns showed a tin ear for feminine concerns. Maybe so, but he got the masculine ones right (no small achievement), and his follow-up feature, She's the One, was an unacknowledged sophomore triumph: Cameron Diaz in that movie was more fresh and alive than the heroines of most chick-flick hits. Now here's Burns re-embracing his outer-New York guys-will-be-guys roots with The Groomsmen, and damned if his homespun, ingratiating talent — for talk that ripples and wounds, for the lies men tell themselves — isn't on.

Burns plays Paulie, who spends the week before he marries his pregnant fiancée (Brittany Murphy) hanging out with his groomsmen: a cousin, a big brother, and two old comrades. They're all in their mid-30s, taking stock of their compromises, and Burns uses this rote setup to create buddies with honest voices. Every actor registers: Jay Mohr, all husky cluelessness as a bridge-and-tunnel lout; Matthew Lillard as a gentle husband and father who understands the modesty of happiness; John Leguizamo, mournful and sharp as the one who disappeared because, it turns out, he's gay; and Donal Logue, who gives a fearless performance as a good man sunk into anger and booze. In a film of minor ambition, they're all worthy company.

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