Brooklyn Rules (2006)

I don't care how many Sopranos episodes Terence Winter wrote...

The DVD box festooned with an enormous "FROM THE WRITER OF THE SOPRANOS" blurb will doubtless rope in all manner of suckas (myself included), but frankly, I'm amazed it's the same guy. The artless, graceless, completely banal story has no real idea what it wants to be, buddy movie or college movie or love story or wiseguy movie or what, and the 2-dimensional version of Brooklyn it presents comes off like a 1950s stereotype in bad 1980s clothing. Well acted, but good acting's not enough to save a storyline that basically amounts to a bunch of cliches piled one on top of the other. Not recommended. November 13, 2008

Stale but enjoyable mob tale

This comes from one of the writers of 'The Sopranos,' and it shows. There are real quality lines & a lot of things we've seen before. The performances lift it a little, though, as they are the strongest thing here.

Alec Baldwin follows his great turn in 'The Departed' with another strong turn. This is pretty good entertainment, nothing great. August 19, 2008

The Sopranos but without the wry humour or the depth of pathos

This run-of-the-mill mob-wars centred movie is about as formulaic and predictable as it possible to be without actually being a complete copy of something else. "Brooklyn Rules" uses a standard mix of foul language, NY American-Italian patois, stock shock scenes of gratuitous violence, tacky casual sex scenes and formulaic black humour to re-tell every other coming-of-age-in-Brooklyn/escape-versus-stay-true-to-your-roots tale that has ever been told. Even its setting in the 1980s feels like nothing more that a cheap trick to make the production appeal to those of an age to be nostalgic for those years.

So, if you have a hankering to be reminded of such things as Cabbage Patch Dolls, Atari computers and assassination attempts on the Pope, and have never seen a mob movie before, this film may just be the ticket. Anyone else, however, will probably feel that they've seen it all before somewhere. And mostly better done. July 23, 2008

"Brooklyn Rules" Movie Review by Michael Elliano

Should say 4.5 stars. Great cast, great story, believeable script, soprano style action, Characters you like, and others you love to hate, add a mixture of laughs and sadness with heavy belt of drama. Why ruin this story. This is a guys flick true and true and one of the best movies out there to sit down and laugh. Well balanced in all aspects and...hey I don't want to ruin the story. This is a winner. Read my other reviews and get an idea of my taste. (I am also Italian) so if that means anything, enjoy...enjoy...enjoy!!! Why not five stars, because its great, not perfect or what I would call a lifetime best. Close enough. April 29, 2008

fairly generic mob movie

**1/2

"Brooklyn Rules" is a ho-hum "Goodfellas" knock-off about three lifelong buddies (Freddie Prinze Jr., Scott Caan and Jerry Ferrara) and their involvement with the mafia. After a brief prologue set in 1974, the film moves quickly ahead to 1985, where Mikey, Carmine and Bobby, now in their 20's, are attempting to make their way in a world where a mob boss by the name of Caesar Manganaro (Alec Baldwin) rules the streets with an iron fist. Mikey, the film's narrator, is the one most torn between loyalty to the neighborhood and his pals and a desire to experience life beyond this old familiar corner of Brooklyn. Carmine is the hard-nosed tough guy who wants nothing more than to be a card-carrying member of the Manganaro clan.

Written by Terence Winter and directed by Michael Corrente, the film indulges in just about every mob-movie cliché one could possibly imagine, topped off by corny narration and banal wise-guy dialogue done in barely comprehensible dese-dem-dose accents. The movie earns a few points for at least trying to create a morally complex character in Mikey (though heavily borrowed from Michael Corleone), but the cliched storytelling, lackluster performances and dull writing rob the film of most of its impact. There's a decided lack of energy and urgency in the direction as well, making "Brooklyn Rules" a very minor addition to the mob movie genre indeed. March 3, 2008

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