Brooklyn Rules (R, 2007)

BROOKLYN RULES begins with three boys in Catholic school uniforms who witness a brutal beating and discover a body in a car. The boys don't worry much about the murder, instead selecting various character-defining items to take home from the scene (cigarettes and a lighter, a puppy, a gun). Cut ahead a few years to the same boys in 1985 -- vain Carmine (Scott Caan) is still smoking, Bobby (Entourage's Jerry Ferrara) still loves his dog, and narrator Michael (Freddie Prinze Jr.) has stowed the gun away in a drawer while attending Columbia University (he has plans for law school). Although the three friends follow different paths by day, at night they hang out together, gambling at the neighborhood temple and pursuing "broads" and one-night stands at the club. In the end, a wholly unclimactic climax leads to a mostly off-screen resolution.

Nostalgic mafia sagas are familiar stories by now, and Brooklyn Rules doesn't break any new ground. Shot in 2004, director Michael Corrente's movie is heavy on local accents and bloody noses, but light on complexity and creativity. A couple of crises force Michael to face some consequences and, apparently, engage in gangster movie clichés -- including the Showdown in the Men's Room, the Poignant Final Prayer, and the Overhead Shots of Bloody Bodies. Michael understands that the "wiseguy" life isn't for him, but still the movie makes him consider it, with archival TV footage of John Gotti and Paul Castellano establishing cursory historical context.