Any Day Now
Written and directed by Eric Aronson
Starring Paul Guilfoyle, Taylor Gray, Alexandra Templer, and Thomas Kee
Unrated
Runtime: 1 hour and 21 minutes
In theaters March 18

by Heidi Krull, Staff Writer

Heist films are not a genre I explore often, and Any Day Now was an overall great introduction. This film is directed by Eric Aronson and is based on a true(ish) story about the famous robbery of Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Any Day Now, though, is not just about the crime but also explores the unlikely relationship between mobster and fall guy.

This film begins with Steve (Taylor Gray), a lonely, struggling musician who owes a drug dealer thousands of dollars. Steve works at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum as a night watchman but barely makes enough to get by. He crosses paths with notorious Boston Mob leader, Marty Lyons (Paul Guilfoyle), who recruits him to rob the museum of some of its most valuable paintings and promises him doing it would pay off his debt. Their relationship is mostly transactional (with a clear power difference), but Steve finds real camaraderie with Marty’s band of criminals, and he and Marty end up actually caring about each other. Any Day Now is marketed as a comedy and a heist film, but their dynamic was what truly pushed the story forward and made this film stand out, despite a few flaws.

Any Day Now had so many moments that surprised me, beginning with its clever marketing. The filmmakers released a trailer that appeared to be “real footage” of the 1990 robbery. Although it clearly wasn’t, I thought this was an ingenious way to bring new audiences in. The film definitely took liberties with the actual story, having fictional and comical characters, but the trailers and marketing added a level of immersion and excitement that may not have been there before. Additionally, the film’s runtime (81 minutes) is the exact time it took for the robbery to take place, adding an extra layer of reality to a mostly fictional story.

Aronson made many creative decisions with the way the story was structured: instead of putting the action of the robbery at the forefront, the real conflict was Steve fighting with himself. Throughout the film, he goes between wanting to do right by his own musical aspirations and wanting to impress Marty. Steve and Marty are both incredibly compelling. Steve is a pushover, which was frankly very difficult to watch and even harder to root for at times. Though he begins to grow a backbone, he still gives in to most people, especially when it comes to his long-time crush and roommates’ girlfriend, Sara (Alexandra Templer). Marty is a lifetime criminal, and, though he goes through changes after meeting Steve, the audience knows he’s not done yet.

Although I highly enjoyed the characters and watching them develop, the story felt like it took a particularly long time to get to any real action. The heist itself did not even start until the last 20 minutes of the film, and, though I was engrossed with much of the buildup, the payoff felt disjointed. The majority of the scenes leading up to the heist were fantastic, I simply wish it moved a little faster. And I will say that, despite how much I loved it, the marketing could have come across as misleading when it comes to the actual action in the film.

Most of the misses in Any Day Now are made up for by the humor that is so prevalent from start to finish. There were moments of lightness between stressful fight scenes, and even the smallest of characters were given witty one-liners. The weight of the story was sometimes lost in translation because so much of the film is incredibly comical, but this often worked in its favor. Steve is tragically awkward yet secretly cunning and smart and frequently is the butt of the joke. His naivety, combined with Marty’s blunt, classically Boston attitude, made for a pretty hilarious duo. There are a few moments where Marty stands up for Steve in ways that no one has before, such as helping him be in the spotlight during one of his band gigs and being a wingman for him (though he often embarrasses him in the process). There is much to praise about the tenderness in their relationship.

Even though I had some gripes with the pacing and delivery of the main event, this film is special in a lot of ways. Aronson’s ability to take a famous museum robbery and turn it into his own was impressive, and I would love to see more from him in the future.

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