Audio By Carbonatix
When in doubt, the first-timer always turns to the numbingly familiar; in this case, co-directors Charles A. Addessi and William DeMeo lift damned near every mob-movie cliché they can lay their mitts on, going so far as to directly reference The Sopranos in one dreadfully flat joke–assuming, perhaps, that by being such honest and honorable thieves, we’ll forgive them their trespass. And some of this coarse, violent film is likable, but it has little identity of its own; you sat through this movie before when it was called Once Upon a Time in America…and Mean Streets…and GoodFellas. Its story of four neighborhood kids (including two table-waiting brothers, the greedy and ambitious Angelo, played by DeMeo; and his polar opposite Paulie, played by Conor Dubin) who want a piece of the book-making action and a little respect (from the local boss, played by Analyze This‘ Jelly, Joe Viterelli) recalls every film made in the past 50 years starring two or more Italian-American actors. It doesn’t help that the film seems to feel guilty about its blood and use of four-letter words; every time it seems to get going, having a blast playing Godfather in gold chains and running suits, it stops down for a little moralizing, and dat’s just fuckin’ wrong.
