Movie Review: "Gangster Squad"

Clichés are certainly tired and trite, but when used well a film can be entertaining enough, even if it isn't original or all that great. But Ruben Fleisher's Gangster Squad can't even recycle clichés in an interesting way. This is a blatant ripoff of The Untouchables with elements of L.A. Confidential thrown in for good measure, but these clichés are executed in such a way that it's almost impossible to find enjoyment in them. But coupled with cheesy performances and a tonally confused script, the film quickly goes from being boring to almost unwatchable. Gangster Squad is not a dull film. It's not a clichéd film. It is, simply, an absolute mess.

Gangster Squad opens with the film's main villain, Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn), standing menacingly behind the Hollywood sign, snarling about how he's slowly taking over the West Coast and then commanding that his cohorts rip apart an enemy of his using two cars speeding into opposite directions. Almost immediately after, three gangsters take a young girl, fresh off the train, into a dark room where they intend to rape her. This is dark, very violent material that would be found in the hardest of R ratings, and this is only the beginning of the gruesome material that will be on screen. And I'm fine with graphic violence- there is nothing wrong with it by itself. But there is something wrong with graphic violence in a film that doesn't call for it.

The tone the writers of Gangster Squad call for is one of a cartoon. The characters are all one dimensional, the plot is simple, and the action scenes have an over the top tone to them. Hell, the film even has a stylized look to it. There is nothing realistic about the film- except for the violence. And that just doesn't add up to a solid film. It's one thing to have graphic violence in a film, but it's a whole other to have violence that's intended to disturb a viewer in a film that isn't even striving for realism. It'd be like having the nameless bad guys that Iron Man beams lasers at blowing up and spewing their guts around the screen. Now, I was never disturbed by the violence in Gangster Squad. I've seen plenty of films that are considerably more graphic. But I found myself rolling my eyes at it.

Speaking of rolling my eyes, let's talk about Sean Penn. Penn is a great actor, but he's an actor that can go wildly over the top to a point where his performances can border on greatness and flat out camp. In Gangster Squad, Penn's performance is campiness at its absolute worst. He screams and yells and lacks anything close to villainy. His performance is laughable, and it's not just because of the material. But he's not alone. The typically fantastic Ryan Gosling turns in a cringe inducing performance as the smooth talking Sgt. Wooters. He plays the part like an actor dressed as a 1940s detective at the most expensive Halloween party of all time. It also doesn't help that he's given some of the cheesiest dialogue to read (more on that later). Out of the other principal actors, Josh Brolin tries his best to elevate the less than stellar material but his character is just boring. Meanwhile, Emma Stone is stuck in a role as one of the most degrading sex objects in recent memory.

And finally, the script showcases some of the laziest incorporation of clichés imaginable. The plot points are practically announced to the audience as they come, with the primary story resembling the dated but entertaining The Untouchables just a bit too much. Then you have dialogue that seems to be made up entirely of catch phrases and cheesy one liners that are read without the slightest hint or irony. Characters are paper thin and it seems that screenwriter Will Beal had never heard of the "show, don't tell" method of writing as any key character traits are explained by the other characters onscreen.

Gangster Squad is a poorly made film. There is no way around it. The writing is horrible, the director cannot choose what tone he wants his film to take, and even the stellar cast fails to deliver solid performances. If you're at all interested in Gangster Squad, I advise you seek out The Untouchables or L.A. Confidential. I just can't imagine somebody watching all three of them and finding Gangster Squad the best of the bunch. In fact, I can't imagine anybody finding Gangster Squad the best of any bunch.

OVERALL GRADE: D

"Gangster Squad" is now available on DVD, Blu-Ray and video on demand.