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Brooklyn Rules (2007)

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53 out of 72 people found the following comment useful :-
Great film. Instant classic of the coming of age genre, 31 August 2005

Author: stickler-2 from Brooklyn, NY

Went to a screening last night and was blown away. Michael Corrente is the kind of director that is in short supply these days. With all the garbage coming out of Hollywood, he has resisted the temptation to head west and make more $ and has instead stuck to his roots. Brooklyn Rules is a powerful independent film with a very realistic take on the coming of age genre. The cast is top notch. The stars and supporting characters ring incredibly true. I'm not going to list all the names (and there are some of the top actors out there) but just look at the credits and know that each of the actors did some of his/her best work to date. Scenes of the three best friends growing together are inter-cut with elements of harrowing violence and blossoming love. The total effect is one that left me wondering why so few films have the balance of Brooklyn Rules. So many are all out in one direction. Hyper violence- or total sex for 90 minutes. This movie has classical composition and pacing yet is completely original in it's own way. A harrowing portrait of learning the horrors of the modern city life. The soundtrack is amazing on its own. Kudos to all involved- Great job!

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24 out of 35 people found the following comment useful :-
One of the best directed movies I have seen in a while, 28 May 2007

Author: bigpimpin36 from Rhode Island

If I had to sum up this movie it would have to include a mixture of Boondock Saints, A Bronx Tale and a little taste of Goodfellas all rolled into one to create BROOKLYN RULES...the cast was awesome the storyline was as truthful as you can get and the movie had it's moments of comedy and others of reflection....I would give this movie a 10 out of 10 and I hope that more people get to see this movie which without the hype will gain it's legion of viewers by word of mouth...those are the best kind of movies in my opinion the ones that just spread like a tidal wave without the pomp and circumstance but still end up being all-time classics or at least achieve Cult Status.

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26 out of 44 people found the following comment useful :-
These guys must be promoting the movie, 18 May 2007

Author: sammybaldwin from United States

From the dialogue to the soundtrack, I felt like this movie was grabbing from other classic mob movies.

There were even direct quotes! ex: a conversation between freddie prinze jr and scott cahn about whether or not it was better to be loved or feared... come on! ... It was like listening to fingernails going down a chalkboard to here these two guys butchering one of the great mob movie moments between Sonny & C in A Bronx Tale.

The dramatic role was clearly too much for Freddie to handle. Scott Cahn and Alec Baldwin were bright spots, but there were too many other awkward moments that seemed like a collision between your typical romantic comedy and a bad mob movie.

If you're going to use the Stones in a mob movie soundtrack... at least pick songs that have not been used in other mob movies.

Don't waste your money and pay to see this in the theater. Its a rental.

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17 out of 27 people found the following comment useful :-
Brooklyn Rules, 22 May 2007

Author: kevsharkey from United States

Brooklyn Rules is a good story about the undying love and loyalty of three friends growing up in Brooklyn, under some very difficult circumstances. Some fine acting by Alec Baldwin and Scott Caan and very good dialog, so listen carefully. I think this movie has a minor flaw. Sometimes it moves a little slowly but the story line does keep you interested. There is some very funny dialog in this script that breaks up some of the serious moments in the movie, which I liked. This movie is also very violent at times but I believe it was a necessary part of the story.The script,written by Terence Winter was very good and superbly directed by Michael Corrente. I also liked the way this movie was filmed, the set decoration was good and so was the lighting. It made a lot of the scenes very easy on the eye. All in all, I came away from this movie feeling good. It reminded me of growing up with my friends, not under the same circumstances, mind you, but just the way good friends talk to each other with brutal honesty and oh yes, always a wisecrack.I recommend this movie because it is about all of us in some ways. I think people will identify with the characters, I think they will like the film.

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10 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Scorsese lite: lackluster gangster drama back in the day, 21 May 2007

Author: george.schmidt (george.schmidt@hbo.com) from fairview, nj

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

BROOKLYN RULES (2007) ** Alec Baldwin, Freddie Prinze, Jr., Scott Caan, Mena Suvari, Jerry Ferrara, Monica Keena. (Dir: Michael Corrente)

Scorsese lite: lackluster gangster drama back in the day

Ever since Martin Scorsese made his bones as a filmmaker with MEAN STREETS and GOODFELLAS there seems to be a flood of rip-offs or as they would like to think 'homage' to the master who made made men respectable for the average cinephile who could get there violence graphic and anti-heroes even more complex.

However the latest attempt to score a hit for The Mob is a rather lackluster gangster drama set back in the day: specifically Brooklyn circa 1985.

The focus is on a trio of childhood chums who've seen the brutality of the streets but are none-the-wiser: Michael Turner (Prinze,, Mr. Zero Charisma himself), as the narrator of the flashback driven story, who has Ivy League dreams of becoming a lawyer; his hot-headed goomba wannabe thug bud Carmine Mancuso (Caan, continuing his cottage industry of short-fused jerk-offs) and their sweet but dumb buddy Bobby Canzoneri (Ferrera of HBO's "Entourage" who I can't stomach at all nor the series come to mention it). The three friends are on aimless existences with Michael trying to maintain the straight and narrow path for a stable, normal life preferably from the concrete jungles of his environs while seeing Carmine becoming further corrupted by the local mobster Caesar Manganaro (Baldwin, the best thing about this otherwise tedious affair), a shifty-eyed yet charismatic capo who has his fingers in many pies and shows his true colors for violence in one memorable sequence involving a competitor in the refuse removal business and a meat slicer in the butcher joint Michael works.

While the script by vet scribe Terence Winter ("The Sopranos") intersperses real life gangsters from the era into the storyline the lines are a bit forced and predictable for the outcome for the trio's fates and the characters feel like cardboard facsimiles of other genre films like the aforementioned Scorsese canon.

Director Corrente (who made a decent debut years back with FEDERAL HILL) does the best he can with the familiar material but ultimately can't infuse the stock material with any real energy (accept for a decent fist-fight in a diner). That can pretty much some up the entire film as a whole.

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11 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
Pretty good movie... Read this review!, 1 June 2007
Author: skellbag from United States

OK, this isn't the best Brooklyn-coming-of-age-in-the-midst-of-wiseguys movie ever made, but all in all I think it was pretty good.

First off, I think all the acting was pretty good. A great turn from Jerry Ferrara, "entourage"s Turtle. One may think from watching that show that this kid was plucked off the streets of Bensonhurst (where's he's from... and I am too) to be on the show, and is a one-trick-pony, but, he gave a great, nuanced, sweet performance of a character that was nothing like his "entourage" alter ego. Kudos to him. I look forward to seeing him in more films, growing as an actor. He was likable, believable, and genuine.

Scott Cahn was excellent. He played his character, one that isn't new in mob-related films, with intensity, humor, and honesty. While his character Carmine may be bordering on a life of crime, he kept the character's heart in tact. I swear moments in this film reminded me of his dad... in a good way.

Freddie Prinze Jr, who'ds I've never seen in a "real movie", was pretty good in this too. Out of the three though, he seemed the most out of place, but, I felt he tried hard and played the role with conviction. His and Mena Suvari's (another actor who I felt didn't fit this film) romance plot line was one the movie could have done without. Upper crust girl falls for and inspires scrubby neighborhood guy to shoot for the stars. It's been done before, and it didn't need to be done again. ANyway, I think if this kid had more roles like this to beef him up, he'd become a pretty good actor. He's not BAD now... but he'd get better for sure doing character driven films like this.

Alec Baldwin, who I think is always entertaining, did a good job in this as the local neighborhood mob boss. He didn't ham it up or go over the top as he sometimes does. He did a nice understated job that suited the character. He was likable, but also had that sheen of danger about him. Good work for this kind of character.

The Brooklyn setting (basically the neighborhoods visited in this are Bensonhurst, Coney Island, Bay Ridge, and Dyker Heights) were genuine (Pastels was a nice touch... and if you're from this neighborhood, you'd agree). The backdrop plot line of the "rise of John Gotti" was a cool one to see everything eveolve around. It hasn't really been touched upon except for on those not-very-great TV movies about Gotti and Sammy "The Rat" Gravano. I thought it was a nice touch. Ss were the scenes with Bobby's family. Perfect! It had comedy, drama, believable characters, and while it may not be the greatest movie ... mob related or not... it had heart. I dug it. It's worth a view.

PS. Someone mentioned in their review that if you're gonna use The Stones in your mob movie soundtrack, you shouldn't use songs already used in other mob movies. Well, to correct them, the only Stones song in this flick is "Sympathy for the Devil"... which to my knowledge was never used in another mob movie. And anyway, Scorcsese used "Gimme Shelter" in not one but TWO of his films. I guess he should be chastised even more for ripping himself off, huh?

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19 out of 34 people found the following comment useful :-
A Classic Timepiece, 21 December 2006

Author: Kevin Brown from United States

What a movie! It is like a Bronx Tale meets Stand By Me. A Romeo & Juliet/ West Side Story Combo. From the streets of Brooklyn to the streets of Manhattan. Three friends follow their dream. One follows the path of the street; the wannabe gangster. Another follows the path out of the streets/college. And one lost soul is just happy to be the blue collar regular guy. A love story; a story about friendship and loyalty. Freddie Prinze Jr. is fantastic; as is Mena Suvari. Scott Caan reminds us so much of his father in this role. Jerry Ferrara's break out big screen role. Michael Corrente outdid himself with this masterpiece. He has Alec Baldwin back in another good role. And check out the non-speaking doorman; his expressions are priceless. A must see film!

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Brooklyn Rules Great film nobody saw-damn shame, 6 August 2007

Author: charles salerno (salernogamer@gmail.com) from nyc

Coming off of last years nearly perfect The Departed which cast a huge shadow in how good mob movies have to be or how great every actor was compared to this indie flick. I think every actor in this film was very good and engaging, you feel the friendship between the three main characters and Alec Baldwin is always dead on in his rendition of a ruthless mob boss, if you don't like him i would rent The Cooler with William H Macy which he was nominated for an Oscar for best supporting actor. All in this movie is worth 10 dollars, its got a great cast and story that you may remember from the news of the 1980s Growing up in NY as a kid this movie hits home, hearing about Paul Castellano getting in front of Sparks Steakhouse was one of the most insane things to see on TV. John Gotti was a ruthless killer and he wanted everyone to know, he flaunted it to the point where he killed dozens of people for years. He would walk to the courthouse on charges weekly in his three thousand dollar suit nobody could touch him. This is why this movie is special, it captures that feeling of how it came down to an all out mob war on the streets of NY and how it was growing up in the midst of it-60s and 70s have been done. The 80s is when every move these guys made was front page news. I was lucky enough to catch this in the theater and i must say i was highly entertained. Maybe its from being a big mob movie fan or an entourage fan or just a fan of quality characters and acting, either way its fun to watch three guys from Brooklyn grow up trying to keep their nose clean in those mean Brooklyn streets of the 1980s. I just wish this movie went wide release because it was a film that had a huge cast and setting that it would have scored big with a lot of moviegoers-like the scarface generation who all think they are gangsta!

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9 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
hoped for the best, 22 May 2007

Author: paulehandley from United States

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

I live in Providence and wanted this to be successful. Im a fan of mob movies and saw the Essex Boys this wkend which is not very good, but I enjoyed it. It was fun to watch. This movie about 3 kids growing up reminded me of Amongst Friends, which I also enjoyed. In my limited knowledge of Corrente directed films(only 2), he does not know how to cast. I saw Federal Hill years ago with the Turturro(sp?) that can't act. He was good in bit parts of NYPD Blue, but nowhere near able to carry a movie. In this movie we have Prinze Jr-again I don't know much of his career, but know he has been in crappy teen movies like i know what you did last summer 2 and have caught moments of it or something that looks just like it on TNT reruns, and he isn't any good. Also the movie adds James Caan's kid. This just spells B movie all over it before I even see the thing. When I see Steve McQueen's kid or Tom Hank's brother I become skeptical. The Caan kid is not a good actor and he is funny looking. He looks like a good looking oompa loompa. I think hes about 5'2".

Mena Suvari is given nothing to work with. She has about zero personality in the movie. She is merely there to comment and elicit comments about Prinze's clichéd character that has a dad die early and fighting his way out of the tough neighborhood. He also has a tough exterior that hides the real tenderness that he has for his buddies.

Prinze hangs out at his buddies house who has a retarded dad that misprounces everything for the comic relief(didn't there used to be some really bad comic that did this?) and a mother thats the worst cook in brooklyn or something-funny stuff and just where I would want to hang out.

Alec Baldwin is good. Hes always good even when he cuts off a body part. Guess which part? Yes, a reservoir dog and about a dozen other movies' ear chop. At least he didn't talk into it after removing it.

Speaking of Reservoir Dogs, there is a lot of conversation between the 3 buddies that does not come within any distance of being that riveting.

Could there have been anything different tossed in to make this movie somewhat unique? Back to the Essex Boys, it at least threw in a Body Heat-like angle where a spurned woman is behind all the mechanizations(sp?)or like Nick Cage in the con movie that has been done to death, spices it up by making him an obsessive compulsive among other things.

Sorry my comments are so negative, but this movie was just bad.

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1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :-
Yet another coming-of-age 'in NY' movie...(that must be seen...or else), 22 June 2008

Author: Sir Vertual (sirvertual) from ...waiting on the A-Train...In the rain...

If you enjoy any of the (non-comedic) 'coming-of-age' movies that have come out since the mid-eighties (with Stand By Me in 1986)...Also, any Alec Baldwin fans must see this. Although I really don't feel Alec was in nearly enough scenes and could have substantially helped this movie considerably by his presence with 'the boys'...Even if he'd been superimposed as a ghost that 'somehow influenced their decisions'...The acting (or maybe casting) of the main characters was a lil' sketchy from tie to time, in my opinion and left e feeling somewhat like 'hey, I'm watching a movie'...which is distracting, as it's a sign of quality when you are 'only able' to stay immersed in the story being told and literally 'forget' you are watching a movie...I even found myself 'taking a couple of breaks (to let the cat out, take a pee, get a drink, etc, etc.) during some of the slower 'connecting' scenes...And I'm sure you know what I mean...The sign of a really well-done film, is when you literally 'can't take your eyes off the screen', allowing any normal distractions to go completely unnoticed (or when the distraction is too much, you flip out and extinguish whatever -or whoever- is the cause of the distraction)...That's a great movie and although this one doesn't fall into that category, it's still one that shouldn't be missed...Overlook the small 'blips' in the acting (it really does get a little awkward -and forced- in a few scenes) and the 'non-emotion' in a few scenes (when there should be a great deal of tear-jerking emotion)...And, as previously stated, the 'under-use' of Alec Baldwin in scenes where he could have definitely been utilized in some creative (and often obvious) ways, which would have really contributed to the overall 'effectiveness' of the story trying to 'get-told'...Otherwise, it's a decent attempt and still stands as (yet another) must-see coming-of-age movies...In easier terms...put it on your 'list-o'-flicks' and when the movie you wanted to see isn't available, grab a copy of this instead...it's pretty much guaranteed to be in-stock...and you won't feel like it was a wasted trip to the 'get a movie place' after you've seen it...Just don't feel like you are incapable of emotion, when you think you should be 'upset over this' or whatever...It's not you, it's the film...

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