Haven’t read EDDIE COYLE yet, but I’ll have to do so. I’ve noticed that Irish and Irish-American crime stories (even if told by Scorsese) are utterly lacking in romanticism, and thus show clearly the emptiness of the life. A really good example (up until the ridiculous Peckinpah shoot-out) is the film, STATE OF GRACE, starring Sean Penn and Gary Oldman. It’s based on the Westies, an Irish mob based in New York City’s Hell’s Kitchen in the mid-to-late 20th Century.