Writer, director, and actor Ed Burns made a big splash with his ultra-low-budget romantic dramedy The Brothers McMullen, but his follow-up, She's The One, wasn't much more than a retread of the same moralistic material, augmented by familiar Hollywood faces. No Looking Back represents a significant shift in both tone and approach. There's not much humor to be found in this bleak seaside soap opera (featuring more scary wind effects than Orson Welles' Othello), and no ensemble cast to diffuse the intense emotions. Lauren Holly plays a waitress on blue-collar Long Island, happily cohabitating with Jon Bon Jovi. Everything falls apart, however, when former flame Burns returns home from a soul-searching mission to take Holly with him. Holly must choose between stable homeboy Bon Jovi and prickish prodigal son Burns—or does she? Like the tragic losers who populate Bruce Springsteen's best songs, everybody in this town just wants to leave, but no one (except Burns) can muster the courage to break away. No Looking Back is a pretty dark little movie, focusing on a risky trio of relatively unlikable leads—and in the process, it gets surprisingly close to capturing the unpredictable behavior of human beings. But Bon Jovi's well-meaning pud and Burns' devilish interloper are little more than jerks vying for the hand and heart of a woman who, deep down, doesn't need either of them. Holly, mousy and dressed like a J. Crew model, is terribly miscast, though her take on the role is not entirely unconvincing. No Looking Back flows from a female vantage point, a nice change of pace from Burns' previous guy-fests, but ultimately, it's a deeply flawed film that's hampered by clunky clichés ("Maybe I shouldn't have had that abortion"), and not quite rescued by passing moments of interest.