'THE GANGSTER SQUAD'

'THE GANGSTER SQUAD' (R) (1 1/2 STARS)

Written by Will Beall
Directed by Ruben Fleischer
Actors: Josh Brolin, Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Anthony Mackie, Robert Patrick, Giovanni Ribisi, Nick Nolte, Micheal Pena.

All "The Gangster Squad" had to be was a campy, violent and fun riff on "The Untouchables" and "L.A. Confidential". It is campy all right but not in a fun way. I was thoroughly bored by this lifeless gangster movie that has a lot of action but no personality. That is a shame because this is a great cast but when Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone come off as the dullest I have seen them you know this movie has a problem. I don't mean to compare it to something as majestic as "The Untouchables" but I wanted to have a good time at least, I wasn't expecting a masterpiece.

Like the best movie of 1987 "The Untouchables", "The Gangster Squad" builds a team of lawmen to battle an infamous gangster, in this case Micky Cohen. With that set up I thought of a few things this movie fails on. First of all none of the gang have individual personalities. There is a nerdy wire tap officer who is the exact type of character that Charles Martin Smith played in "The Untouchables". The difference is we loved that character. I couldn't care less of what happened to the Ribisi character or what happens to his family. I also know that Gosling is playing a character too cool for words but Gosling has no chance to bring any life to him. There is a romance between Gosling and Emma Stone and this hot couple should have created sparks. The movie doesn't let them, their affair bored me too.

I was actually rooting for Sean Penn's Micky Cohen who comes off as a shallow stereotype but at least he is alive and having fun. Sean Penn's performance is the only great part of this movie. The make up looks awful and Penn is required to chew scenery and it could have gone wrong but Penn makes it new and exciting. I also thought that Josh Brolin as the lead squad member makes a great hero. Though he would be better used as maybe the new Elliot Ness in an "Untouchables" remake? The action scenes and shootouts her run into each other and there is really no set up, they are just a mess. I only liked a really cool fist fight between Penn and Brolin near the end.

I know the screenplay here is not supposed to be the highlight of the movie but I did concentrate on the dialogue a lot because I was bored with the characters and action. The dialogue is terribly cliched and I know it is supposed to be but was it too much to ask for the dialogue not to sound like it was coming from a bad 1940's gangster "B" movie? After awhile I expected a "You'll never catch me "Copper" you see because I am smarter than you, you see?" Though there is a few lines that come close to that goofy "B" movie type crud. "The Gangster Squad" is a major dissapointment and a waste of great talent. I think I will go watch something way better like "The Untouchables" to remind me that a gangster movie can be a lot of fun.