Ray Donovan: The Movie (2022) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  David Hollander

Starring:  Liev Schreiber, Jon Voight, Pooch Hall, Kerris Dorsey, Eddie Marsan, Dash Mihok, Alan Alda

Showtime cancelled Ray Donovan after its seventh season with threads still needing to be tied up, mainly the conclusion to the years-long love/hate cold war between Ray (Schreiber) and his father Mickey (Voight).   Ray wants to free himself of Mickey, but can't seem to do so.   The movie which concludes the series indeed wraps up the Ray/Mickey saga while suggesting the relationship has gone full circle.  Ray Donovan is told in flashbacks to Ray's teenage years in Boston, when events involving the criminal Mickey will forever alter the lives of the Donovan family.

Ray Donovan opens with a bloodied Ray calling his therapist (Alda) and confessing to a murder.  Who is murdered is not in doubt as much as what led up to it and what exactly happened.   At the end of season seven, Ray is hunting yet again for Mickey who has made off with Ray's loot after a deal for bearer bonds goes awry, resulting in the shooting death of Ray's daughter Bridget's (Dorsey) husband.  Mickey flees to Boston, where he tries to dump the bearer bonds and money with some old crime acquaintances.   Ray's return to Boston leads to flashbacks of his distant relationship with Mickey in his youth.   Mickey is less a father than a criminal mentor to Ray.   One fateful night in a bar involving Mickey, Ray, and Ray's girlfriend causes Mickey to spend twenty years behind bars for a murder he did not commit.   

When Ray Donovan premiered in 2013, it was among the most electrifying shows I'd seen.  Liev Schreiber was perfectly cast as the gruff, no-nonsense Hollywood fixer with the permanent five o'clock shadow.   As the seasons wore on and Ray grew more morose and drank heavier, the show suffered and became a joyless dirge.   In the movie, there is a scene in which Ray and his brothers laugh and reminisce about the fleeting good times of the past.   It's the first I'd seen any of them smile in forever.

The movie clocks in at under 100 minutes and more or less does what it's supposed to do, which is to bring the show to its end.   It does so efficiently and with occasional power, although by now these characters don't have much of a tendency to surprise us.    I'm thankful we didn't have to endure a full eighth season.