this independent film written and directed by eric bross has the look and feel of all those other troubled blue - collar youth films that have inundated the market in recent times .
it is hard to tell what is independent about this film ; it might as well have been made in hollywood or on a home videocam .
it is the debut film for the director , who tells his personal story about italians growing up with heavy new jersey accents and remaining tight with each other as they grow into young adults , a tale which could have been rewarding to see in the 1950s , where the mind - set of all the characters depicted is grounded , but to see it in the 1990s is a different story :
it is old news .
the love story between the simple girl waiting to get married and her luckless boyfriend turning nasty on her does n't mean much , since their relationship remained undeveloped .
the introduction of the wise - guy angle and the loyality among buddies bit , are not moving enough emotional experiences or intelligent enough dramatics to elevate this film above its limited story line despite the tour - de - force performance by the star of the film , adrien brody as ray .
ray is the only son of a low - level mobster once arrested for running an illegal casino operation out of his bloomfield , new jersey , suburban basement .
ray sr .
( vincent ) is now trying to make a go of it by running a small scale home - repair business .
his son lives with him and works unhappily as a shoe salesman , dreaming of getting rich quickly so he can open a business and marry his long - time waitress girlfriend joanne ( sybil ) .
the title of this film refers to the shoe size of paul newman-10b , which really has nothing to do with explaining anything about the film .
you should be aware that there are a lot of things about this film that do n't make sense : its constant brainless chatter between the buddies , their uneventful growing pains , and the despair of their lives , make it very difficult to feel any empathy for them .
desperate to make his dream come through , ray goes to a loanshark , humorously and menacingly played by james e . moriarty , and borrows 10 grand to bet on a " sure thing " at freehold raceway .
the horse loses and now ray has big problems , as the loanshark comes after him with his muscle to get his dough .
there is nothing i have seen so far to like about ray .
he is undependable , mean - spirited , and stupid .
so when his best friend mike ( gallagher ) , the narrator of the film , gets a chance to sleep with his girlfriend -- who cares ?
the director must be kidding himself if he thinks we do
.
as for ray 's gambling debt and his dilemma of how to pay it off , the story is too predictable for anything other than what you would expect to happen .
his buddies , the college student mike and the dependable butchie ( gillan ) , and his old man , who he has this love / hate relationship with , rally to his aid .
and the film ends on an obligatory artistic note of ambiguity , that seems to be the way it is for all those wannabe artistic films , as ray is off to florida all by his lonesome self to try to put his life together .
there was just no energy or spark or anything relevant in this superficial film to keep it interesting , though adrien brody showed signs that he could be a future star .
because of his intensity and looks , he reminds me of sean penn .
does n't mean much , since their relationship remained undeveloped the director must be kidding himself if he thinks we do are not moving enough emotional experiences or intelligent enough dramatics to elevate this film above its limited story line all those wannabe artistic films there are a lot of things about this film that do n't make sense : its constant brainless chatter there was just no energy or spark or anything relevant in this superficial film uneventful too predictable there is nothing i have seen so far to like it is old news