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Movies / On DVD / Brooklyn Rules
Brooklyn Rules

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Brooklyn Rules (2007)

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Reviews Counted:38

Fresh:18

Rotten:20

Average Rating:5.5/10

Consensus: Brooklyn Rules’ premise is old hat now, but strong performances from Alec Baldwin and the supporting cast are reasons enough to watch.

Runtime: 1 hr 39 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Written by three-time Emmy winner Terence Winter (The Sopranos), Brooklyn Rules is a powerful story of loyalty, friendship, and sacrifice. Set in Brooklyn circa 1985 against the backdrop of John... Written by three-time Emmy winner Terence Winter (The Sopranos), Brooklyn Rules is a powerful story of loyalty, friendship, and sacrifice. Set in Brooklyn circa 1985 against the backdrop of John Gotti's rise to power, the film revolves around three lifelong friends whose different ambitions threaten to shake their enduring bond. Michael (FREDDIE PRINZE JR.), the narrator, is a lovable charmer with the soul of a con man who successfully scams his way into the pre-law program at Columbia University. In contrast to Michael's desire to leave the Brooklyn streets behind, his close friend Carmine (SCOTT CAAN), a handsome lady-killer enamored by the Mafia lifestyle, wants nothing more than to stay there. Rounding out the trio is Bobby (Entourage's JERRY FERRARA), an endearing cheapskate who longs for a simple life of working at the Post Office and settling down with his fiancée. While at Columbia, Michael falls for a beautiful young student named Ellen (MENA SUVARI), a society girl whom he initially wins over with his preppy schoolboy cover. As their relationship blossoms, leaving the streets behind seems increasingly possible, but when Carmine catches the eye of Caesar (ALEC BALDWIN), a feared mobster who controls their Brooklyn neighborhood, Michael and Bobby are drawn into that world despite their reluctance to get involved. Brooklyn Rules comes down to the choices faced by three young men when the right path is not always the easiest to follow, and when being a loyal friend can mean making the ultimate sacrifice. --© City Lights Pictures [More]

Starring: Alec Baldwin, Freddie Prinze, Scott Caan, Jerry Ferrara

Starring: Alec Baldwin, Freddie Prinze, Scott Caan, Jerry Ferrara, Mena Suvari, Daniel Tay, Ty Reed, Paulo Araujo

Director: Michael Corrente

Director: Michael Corrente
Screenwriter: Terence Winter
Producer: Michael Corrente, Richard B. Lewis, Marisa Polvino
Composer: Benny Rietveld
Studio: City Lights Pictures

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Reviews for Brooklyn Rules

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1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
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Too many clichés and not enough energy have come along for the ride.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
05/18/07
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Boston Globe

Director Michael Corrente’s borough-specific details and Sopranos writer Terence Winter’s well-drawn characters alchemize oft-used ingredients into a satisfying meal.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
05/18/07
Mark Keizer
Mark Keizer
Boxoffice Magazine

A thoughtfully satisfying form of non-mob drama is in store for the more serious filmgoer with the exclusion of Scorsese-like episodes of butchery.

Full Review Source: Cinema Signals | comment Comment
04/18/07
Jules Brenner
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals

A surprisingly strong feature about lifelong buddies, one taking the high road to college and law school while two others are drawn into the life of wiseguys.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
03/27/07
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

...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.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
07/13/07
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press

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

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
05/30/07
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman
Entertainment Weekly

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

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
05/21/07
Frank Lovece
Frank Lovece
Film Journal International

How many sophomoric insults can three Brooklyn teens hurl in five minutes? About 894.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
05/17/07
Don Willmott
Don Willmott
Filmcritic.com

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

Full Review Source: IGN Movies | comment Comment
06/22/07
Brian Linder
Brian Linder
IGN Movies

The friends, the neighborhood, the loyalty, the bloodshed, Alec Baldwin playing a bad-ass wise guy... feel free to stop me when all this stops sounding familiar.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
05/18/07
Evan Henerson
Evan Henerson
Los Angeles Daily News

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.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
09/20/07
Kevin Crust
Kevin Crust
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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

Full Review Source: Manhattan Movie Magazine | comment Comment
12/18/07
Marlow Stern
Marlow Stern
Manhattan Movie Magazine

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

Full Review Source: Maxim | comment Comment
05/21/07
Pete Hammond
Pete Hammond
Maxim

Singularly unoriginal, full of clichés and tough-neighborhood set pieces tied together with GoodFellas-style voice-over narration.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
07/12/07
Cathy Jakicic
Cathy Jakicic
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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

Full Review Source: Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC) | comment Comment
08/01/07
Ken Hanke
Ken Hanke
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)

This is an enjoyable, well-written, finely acted and strongly directed movie.

Full Review Source: Murphy's Movie Reviews | comment Comment
05/14/07
Ted Murphy
Ted Murphy
Murphy's Movie Reviews

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

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
05/18/07
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News

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

Full Review Source: New York Magazine | comment Comment
05/14/07
David Edelstein
David Edelstein
New York Magazine

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.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
05/18/07
Lou Lumenick
Lou Lumenick
New York Post

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.

comment Comment
09/22/07
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
 
 
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