Brooklyn Rules: Critic Reviews

Years after Federal Hill (1994), director Michael Corrente is still doing low-budget Mean Streets knockoffs.

However authentic and heartfelt this film's depiction of life on the meaner streets of the Northeast corridor may be, it doesn't begin to match The Sopranos' epic vision of violence, class struggle and upward mobility in a barbarous culture.

Against all odds, it remains surprisingly watchable.

Too many cliches and not enough energy have come along for the ride.

As a longtime writer on The Sopranos, Terence Winter has steered clear of most of the hoary organized-crime cliches. Instead, he's poured them all into director Michael Corrente's anemic urban drama.

Though the three friends at the center of the story don't always look or sound smart, the movie does both.

The mix of autobiographical texture and authentic mobster minutiae puts it over and then some.

A sometimes funny, occasionally maudlin coming-of-age dramedy that wants to be Goodfellas but might have been called Mild in the Streets.

Vivid work by Alec Baldwin as a brutal Gambino crime family captain isn't enough to justify the sub-Scorsese stylings of Michael Corrente's Brooklyn Rules.

Whether it's read as an exclamation of borough pride or as a set of unwritten laws governing its residents, the movie takes a well-trodden path in chronicling the lives of three Italian American friends, circa 1985.

Should you see this '80s mafia drama? Fugeddaboudit.

Top cast delivers terrific characterisations, with all three leads showing deep talents, as does Mena Suvari in a small and thankless but important role.

a fuzzy film sporting more bad Brooklyn accents and mob-movie cliches than Knockaround Guys which, all things considered, is hard to do.

Aggressively derivative.

If we were playing by mob rules, this movie would get the 'slicer' treatment for trying to impersonate a Scorsese picture.

Absolutely nothing to recommend the film as anything other than a sagging collection of predictable cliches and brain-numbing boredom.

Brooklyn Rules doesn't exactly rule, but fans of the cast will find much to enjoy.

...Winter's coming-of-age-in-the-1980s saga is content to rewalk the same mean streets, never ducking into one alley or back room we haven't visited.

Capturing Manhattan's essence is easy. But capturing life inside provincial New York City -- is something that eludes most filmmakers...And now add Brooklyn Rules to the short list of movies that get it right.

Singularly unoriginal, full of clichA (C)s and tough-neighborhood set pieces tied together with GoodFellas-style voice-over narration.

Brooklyn Rules is a watchable flick but it's also tired and derivative, which is a shame given the talent involved.

Ah, the nostalgic mob drama. No matter the brutality, the blood, or the sheer fear that shape the memory, movies and TV tend to make life in the mob a growth experience.

It all remains as charming and likable as the mutt that Bobby adopts, and the genuine New York locations sure beat Toronto.

Although yet another set-in-the-80's coming of age film, it's a familiar but affecting story.

Brooklyn Rules has enough heart and personality to freshen what could easily be construed as stale cannoli.