first five minutes are the best part of the film

Rating: 2/10 (2 March 2007)

This film is not in any way up the standards of him magnum opus "Goodfellas" or even that early gem "Mean Streets". What we got here is a very nasty, vicious and gruesome film with a musical-chairs killing ending that rivals the final scenes of "Taxi Driver". The only bit of authenticity, aside from the Boston location, and I live West of Boston, is the accent of Costello's mistress: all of the other principles are too polished in their speech and mannerisms to give much credibility to the film, which was not the case with "Mean Streets", but then again the director comes from NYC and was cognizant of the subtle characteristics that lend credence to the work. I could go on like this but will end my comment by saying that my opinion is that the Academy felt compelled to reward this piece of dreck because they felt guilty at not bestowing awards on "Goodfellas", a justly-deserved masterpiece.