Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

It is the life of three young men living in Brooklyn attached to their culture, roots and mob presence. I love the accent and the way the behave like they do not give a heck about anything. They might be considered ghetto fella living their lives but always keeping it Brooklyn. This film never gets stupid but it always keep the tension at the right level. Cool even the relationship that this guys have with women. I am Italian, and I can tell in many aspects and culture we look alike. The producer is a guarantee, T. Winter, writer and director of The Sopranos and Boardwalk Empire. This is the reason I came here, maybe disappointed by the way BE ended, but this movie was a sweet surprise.

I never liked movies who exploit in any way story about criminals. I don't like criminal, criminals, story's about what made them to go into criminal, nothing at all. That includes all-time favorite, "Godfather". But, in "Brooklyn Rules" I'm finding silly but obvious enjoyment. Its not a classic one, although there are some cliché's (lots of them actually) but through the length, as we get closer to the end, it takes "this" side of life, our side, side of average human being and his righteous goals in life. It goes somewhat deep into the psychology of hard living in ghetto and it focus in willing of young man (Freddy Prince Junior) to make it through and escape from misery of cheapness and wastefulness of thug life. Casting is great, and the executions of actors are very good. Freddy is leading, followed my Mena Suvari, who is once again, nice and delightful girl from upper class and so beautiful, that you can really believe that her solely is more then enough to drive a force of change in any man who's looking for a reason to seek for salvation.

Brooklyn Rules has a premise that has been done before. Having grown up in Brooklyn and being a fan of Alec Baldwin I took a chance and rented the film. I have to say that I really wanted to enjoy this film as I am a fan of the genre, can relate to the life and am from the same generation as the characters in the film.The storyline is a coming of age story of three friends from Brooklyn. A storyline such as this would rest heavily on crisp direction, a good solid script and the rapport between the three buddies played by Freddie Prinz Jr., Scott Caan and Gerry Ferrara. The rapport and connection just wasn't there. Although individually there were some bright spots, it didn't seem like these guys really knew each other. Their affection seemed forced and false. The contact between the younger actors that played the same characters as school boys at the start of the film was more honest, spontaneous and interesting than their older counterparts. Scott Caan gives a solid and understated performance as the friend who initially seeks his future in the mob life. Gerry Ferrara is fine as the good hearted cheapskate Bobby. As the main character and narrator of the film, Freddie Prinz comes off the weakest of the three with a performance that lacks in energy and played with a very fake accent. The latter sounding like a preppies stereotyped version of a mob/Brooklyn accent. The rapport between Prinz's character and his love interest also suffers in the film. Mena Suvari and Mr. Prinz, both who have turned in much better performances in other films, seemed to be trying desperately to find their way through the awkward dialog and couldn't make it work. The script and the direction, IMHO was the greatest problems with the film. I understood from the DVD interviews that the movie was based on the writers actual life experience. It must have meant a great deal to Mr. Winter to bring this to life. It is most commendable effort, but the dialog is forced, labored and artificial. It needed a great deal of polish to smooth out the rough edges and bring a little more truth, less forced humor and more energy to the story. I'm a fan of many of the films that this movie has spawned from ie. Goodfellas, Bronx Tale and the genres progenitor, Mean Streets. But those films had an energy, truth, humor and spontaneity that this film lacks. Alec Baldwin is as usual fun to watch and one can only wish that we saw more of him and that he didn't die as soon as he did. When Baldwin is no longer in the film it sort of flounders to it's ponderous ending. Gerry Ferrara's last tragic scene is the only moving moment, much in part due to Mr. Ferrara's excellent performance in that scene.The direction was equally awkward and labored and served to make the film a stereotype of the intense and complicated world that takes place on the streets of Brooklyn. It is a shame because the story idea was a good one and could have been served better.

First off let me say the casting for this movie was blatantly and utterly retarded and it killed the movie for me. One of the main bad guys who is supposed to be a tough Italian mobster is a coddled Irish blue-eyed fop named Alec Baldwin- every scene he is in fails miserably in giving the tough guy Italian one-two punchola- he looks like he needs an Irish coffee and a warmed towel.A lot of voice overs in this movie to cover ground that may have been too difficult for the director to imagine onto film. That was a big minus too.Plusses- da usual tuff guys talking crap and knockin heads and getting some respect when they is out on da town wit dere dames.Final conclusion: the equivalent of methadone for the heroin that is goodfellas, below sopranos in accuracy or believability- but watchable and occasionally pretty good, it loses points since the topic has been covered much, much better in a wide number of other films that came before it.THE PLOT: Some guys that grew up in the neighborhood feel some growing pains as their closeness to several wiseguys intrudes on their lives. Gotti is used as a backdrop for street cred. It would have been better if a lot of stuff the voice over was talking about was instead part of the actual film.Goodfellas, The Godfather, Donnie Brasco, and reservoir dogs do a better wiseguy coverage than this flick- but this IS a watchable addition to the list, so foggedaboudit.