As sleek and visual as this movie is, it’s not one of the best gangster movies I’ve seen; It’s possibly the worst. We get a nonsensical, clichéd movie with a contrived plot and go-nowhere characters. First off, the cast, though big, is pretty useless. We have a paper thin love story between Renfro and Balk that is very reminiscent of “Romeo & Juliet” yet comes off as forced and seems too much like a plot device.
There’s also a major waste of talent including Matt Dillon who is very powerful as the kingpin of the gangs yet barely does anything except scowl, complain and appear on occasion, Vincent Pastore (The Sopranos) plays the neighborhood priest, father Aldo who urges the two brothers not to adhere to the temptations of war, yet, once again, he is barely featured throughout the entire movie and never truly plays a pivotal role in the plot development. Last but not least, we have Frankie Muniz (Malcolm in the Middle) who is unbearable as Scooch, the wannabe gang member who hangs around the “Deuces” panting and kissing their butts.
He is also a typically useless character and doesn’t do much to help the story move along. Most of all, we get a cliché upon cliché upon cliché like stickball, debating about the Dodgers (or as they say it: Dodgas), and most of all poorly choreographed fights between rival gangs. We get terrible Brooklyn accents throughout the movie, mostly by Renfro who is as believable as a Brooklyn boy as Robert Redford is as Malcolm X. In the end all we have here is a clunker of a movie which is nothing more than a waste of time, money, and prime acting talent. Wanna see good gangster movies? Look anywhere but this piece of unabashed garbage.