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Whenever I see a movie I always ask myself what was the purpose of this film? What did the writer/directors/actors have to say that was so meaningful they gave of themselves to make this picture? Then you see a silly goombah film that is not a comedy like, Analyze This, or with a continuing story/drama like The Soprano’s, but is just a simple story about the sons of mobsters and where they fit into society. Step back, and again what is the importance of this? Is it how they become like their pops? How society accepts them, what they do with their life? Nope, this film is about friendship and coming through for one another, the gangster plot is just to add flash and importance. Hell what could be more important than bailing a friend out when they screw-up on the job? On the job screw-ups in the real world just get you fired, written up or suspended, not a bullet to the back of your head like in the mobster world. This movie begins in 1987 when the young (12 year-old) Matty Demaret (Barry Pepper, We Were Soldiers) is being led by his uncle Teddy Deserve (John Malkovich, Shadow of the Vampire) to the basement of a restaurant. This is his test to see if he has it in him to be one of them. He is supposed to shoot and kill the guy who fingered his dad (Dennis Hopper) and sent him to prison. Only Matty can’t shoot a guy in cold blood, whom is pleading for his life. Teddy sends Matty off and they finish the job. Cut to present day and Matty is worming his way into a job interview. He went in for the assistant position then insisted on seeing the boss to get the sports agent job instead. Once he figures out he is the son of a mobster, not just any mobster, but one under the big guy. He tosses him out with a speech about not getting a piece of his business. We meet Matty’s friends, the bachelor of the month, Chris Scarpa (Andrew Davoli) a real hottie with a million dollar smile. He is supposed to be running one of his dad’s restaurants but that interferes with his social life. Then there is Johnny Marbles (Seth Green, Austin Powers in Goldmember) who is a coke snorting screw-up that owns his own plane. Then there is Taylor Reese (Vin Diesel, XXX) looking hotter and buffer than ever. He is the muscles in this group, but looking at him next to the others I didn’t need to tell you that. Matty is depressed because he can’t find a real job and begs his dad to let him do some jobs for him. Reluctant, and I mean really reluctant, (earlier he said you work for us, you bring us the sandwiches, not code for drugs or something, just meatball hoagies) but he gives him one job. To pick up a bag in Spokane and bring it back, only he can’t go himself because if the feds grab him and connect him back to Benny “Chains’ Demeret he will go to prison for life, so Matty sends Marbles. Only Marbles loses the bag in a town in Montana that has a police force the size of The Andy Griffith show. He was gassing up the plane, dumped the bag to avoid getting caught with it when he saw the fuzz there and panicked. Now Matty, Taylor and Scarpa show up to get the half a million back. This is where these wannabe gangsters try to figure out how they accomplish this. Only the real mob is on its way. I’ve never know real gangsters despite my Italian side of the family being from the east coast where they run the garbage in Massachusetts, so I am not sure how they do business, but I could have figured out a much better way to find the money and draw less attention to my presence. I could have done a number of things different than these goofballs, but in the end it would have all been the same. It was not about mob money, the real storyline was about friendship and who will go to the mat for you. Also appearing in this Brian Koppleman, David Levien written and director film were Tom Noonan, Jennifer Baxter (Frequency), Jon Liddle, Ron Annabelle (John Q), Dov Tiefenbach (Jason X), Arthur J. Nascarella (Kate and Leopold), Shawn Doyle and many others. The only thing I was looking forward to in this film was Vin Diesel’s hot body and I surely wasn’t disappointed. Again he was the bad guy you have to love. I was surprised to see there was a plot to this film because in the trailers it didn’t look like it had one. I was annoyed that the writers didn’t trust their writing enough to not have to reinforce statements made with silly symbols. Vin sports a huge tattoo of the Star of David. So you are wondering why would he have that? Then he comments about his mother being Jewish and that is why he would never truly be accepted in the mob. His connection was not family like the other three, his was a true calling for the mobster life. Then, when they have him all covered up in a leather jacket, (Montana is cold) they have him wearing a necklace with the Star of David. All right we were listening, we didn’t need props to remind us. I enjoyed Vin, I enjoyed this film, so I gave it nine couches out of 10. forgetaboutit
Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:48:41 AM Click Here to get back into frames.
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