A Disappointing Continuation

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

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.

Mike Manadoro (Kevin Zegers) lives with his father Vinny (Vincent D'Onofrio) in Brooklyn. His friend Nicky Shades (Eddie Cahill) returns from war with a dark edge. Mike's photography gets him a partial scholarship to NYU. He falls for fellow student Kathy Popovich (Sophia Bush) despite having neighborhood girlfriend Gina Abruzzi (Monica Keena). He starts doing odd jobs driving for local mob guy Tony (Titus Welliver). His father is angry with him working for Tony.This is reminiscent of well-used material from better movies. It's an indie in need of better cinematic style and better music. It's more in the line of a good-looking TV movie. Zegers is a perfectly functional young leading man. He has just enough charisma and Bush is a hottie. However the story meanders without much tension. It takes a long time for the movie to raise the danger level. The dialog is a bit lackluster except when D'Onofrio shows up. It tries to go to a darker place but it never shocks. The whole movie needs to be tightened up a bit and concentrate on the father son relationship. More D'Onofrio would really help.

Among the people who might enjoy this movie are those who like to read a novel, and then see the film made from it. THE NARROWS is based on a Tim McLoughlin novel entitled HEART OF THE OLD COUNTRY. McLoughlin himself is one of six cast and crew members interviewed for more than 90 minutes (!) on the DVD extras. Obviously, another group of folks who may appreciate the flick are those who like to see their entertainment dissected and talked to death (perhaps they do not have lives of their own?).In addition to the pair of movie-watching types described above, fans of local color may enjoy THE NARROWS. Though I did not find the cast wallowing in the Brooklynese dialect, perhaps the filmmakers decided not to force the rest of the U.S. to view this yarn with subtitles. Furthermore, people curious to find out was a New York City "car service" consists of might be well-advised to check out THE NARROWS.Finally, fans of Kevin Zegers, Sophia Bush, and Vincent D'Onofrio will find their approach to their craft fully explicated on the aforementioned DVD interview extras. Further, those who have watched Eddie Cahill as Det. Don Flack on CSI: NEW Y0RK the past few seasons will find Cahill's Nicky Shades character in THE NARROWS illuminating, in a kind of haunting way.

Most of the films of this genre are hackneyed remakes of classics with nothing new to add except a new face here and there. This film is obviously tailored to an intelligent novel and the acting is surprisingly tight. Donofrio is outstanding as the bitter old numbers runner who can't seem to get over the death of is saintly Italian wife; not too many clichés there, huh? But he pulls it off with the panache only he can bring to a role. Huzzah for you, Mr. Vincent, you did it again. But as the lead, Kevin Zegers steals the show. Where has this kid been? He is believable, beautiful and serious. I know that the established critics bombed this film, but that's never swayed me all that much. I watch a lot of films and this one, though far from a ten, is a solid seven.

I am not sure if this movie is worth the 8.1 out of 10 it's currently rated at, but its definitely worth a 6 or 7.This movie takes a long time to get going and doesn't really hit its stride until the last third of the movie.Vincent D'Onofrio was brilliant in this, Titus Welliver also puts in a good performance, its worth watching this movie just for those two performances alone. Both of their characters add a little bit of an unexpected twist to the story which makes the payoff of sitting through the whole movie worthwhile.