Good but sometimes superficial

Rating: 7/10 (14 September 2000)

This film has the luck to be based on a thrilling story, but the latter is unfortunately manipulated to emotional extremes. The family conflicts with scenes like the daughter's first communion are extremely annoying and boring to me. A waste of celluloid. From all the characters, there is only one interpersonal relationship that works. The good news is that it's the one between the two leads. The very last Pacino scene was quite strong. Al is his usual overacting self, especially in the beginning of the movie, where there's no need for emotions. Johnny Depp is acceptable, even if he's not perfectly cast. But the moustache is ridiculous. In general, there is an obvious effort to give a 70's feel (and I don't mean just the costumes and the premises, but even the way the scenes are shot), maybe trying to capitalize on the success of this genre at the time. It's not bad, it just doesn't give the extra boost the director thought it would.