With three critically acclaimed films under his belt, we’ve become accustomed to treating each new Ben Affleck directorial effort as a main event in the world of cinema. After the immense success of Argo, it seemed like a given that this next film was going to be something special. Alas, Live by Night doesn’t quite reach the heights of any of his prior directorial efforts. This Prohibition-era gangster noir ultimately comes undone due to a seemingly intended epic scope that chooses quantity of storylines over quality.

The film follows petty thief Joe Coughlin (Ben Affleck), who also happens to be the son of Boston police captain Thomas Coughlin (a consistently solid Brendan Gleeson) and involved in a steamy love affair with Emma Gould (an unrecognizable Sienna Miller). She’s Albert White’s (Robert Glenister) girlfriend, the current leader of the Irish mob. So yeah, that’s a problem.