DVD
REVIEW: Brooklyn Rules
09/17/07
Written by the three Emmy
Awards winners from The Sopranos, Terence Winter, "Brooklyn Rules" is based in the story of Terence's two best
friends
from Brooklyn. According to Terence most of the dialogue
between the friends in this film is real, the fictional part
is the gangster backdrop used in the setup of this film.
Set in Brooklyn in the
1980's when mafia was a big influence in New York, "Brooklyn
Rules" is the story of three childhood friends and
their neighborhood anecdotes. Michael Turner Jr (Freddie Prinze Jr)
is an intelligent
young man that manages to get into pre-law program at
Columbia University. Bobby Canzoneri (Jerry Ferrara) is a
regular guy trying to set his life with a regular job and
making a family. On the other hand Carmine Mancuso (SCOTT CAAN)
is the "black sheep" of the group, in love with the mafia
lifestyle. These three friends are set to take
different paths in their lives, but without breaking their
true friendship.
The narrative style in the
film had its ups and downs. When the narrative was about the
three friends, it was interesting and enjoyable.
However, at times it was distracting. When the
narrator made reference to the gangster's backdrop story
these references were so far apart from each other that it
was hard to make sense out of them. The who is who in
the mafia ring wasn't clear and did not provide a good point
of reference to maintain track of names. Another weak point
was how predictable it became, in the last 30 minutes.
The grand finale was really obvious making it your typical
gangster movie.
The performance by Jerry
Ferrara (Bobby) and Scott Caan (Carmine) were outstanding
giving life to their characters. A good surprise was Freddie
Prinze Jr who showed some acting skills this time around.
But
the acting lesson was provided by Alec Baldwin in the few
scenes that he appeared giving the impression of seeing
a true mob leader.
Overall, despite having a
predictable resolution before the ending and a bit of
a surprising conclusion, Brooklyn Rules delivers a "friends
forever" message loud and clear.
VIDEO:
Anamorphic Widescreen (1:85)
AUDIO:
English (5.1 Surround Sound)
Subtitles: English and
Spanish
BONUS FEATURES:
Commentary by Writer and Director.
Cast Interview
Interviews with the main cast of the film.
RATING BREAK DOWN:
| FILM REVIEW |
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VIDEO |
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AUDIO |
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| BONUS
FEATURES |
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