Gangster Squad 2013

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: It's almost terrible. It's almost entertaining. But it's missing the shameless insanity of a wonderfully bad movie, and the particular vision, point of view, and coherence of some very good ones. Read more

Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: 'So it's a shame that "Gangster Squad" is nothing like a good old-fashioned gangster picture. While it's a period piece that clearly relishes its evocation of neon-bright Los Angeles in 1949, it's hardly old-fashioned. And it's no good at all ... Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: "Gangster Squad" would have been more fun as an animated feature, with fanciful animals in the principal roles. Read more

Rex Reed, New York Observer: Despite the flaws and the occasional corn, this is still one of the most exhilarating and entertaining action films in recent memory. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: There's only so much style can do to spiff up shriveled substance. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: A bullet-riddled bloodbath with an all-star cast, Gangster Squad is a lurid and ludicrous Mob thriller that glorifies a gangland lifestyle. Read more

Soren Anderson, Seattle Times: All the people in the picture are playing at their characters, rather than actually playing the characters. Everyone looks grand in their period clothes, but they're making make-believe that is not in the least bit believable. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Yet another dispiriting reminder that while the MPAA can be squeamish and hypocritical about depictions of sexuality, filmmakers can nevertheless flood the screen with enough carnage for a world war or two, yet walk away with an R rating. Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: Bits and pieces here and there entertain. But it never really comes together in a satisfying way, and given the talent involved, that adds up to a big disappointment. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: It's all just noise disguised as entertainment. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: Apart from the gore -- and there's plenty -- this is basically L.A. Confidential without the script. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: A triumph of production design but a pretty dull kill-'em-up otherwise. Read more

Tom Charity, CNN.com: Gangster Squad looks the part, but it's so superficial it practically evaporates before our eyes. Read more

Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News: As they'd say back in the day: Sweetheart, give me rewrite. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Director Ruben Fleischer and screenwriter Will Beall can't decide whether to make a spoof or a serious drama, so they wrongheadedly attempt both. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: What's missing from Gangster Squad is a core, a point of view, something to patch together the cheese and carnage. Read more

Ricardo Baca, Denver Post: It might sound like a stretch, imagining Penn playing that intense, indiosyncratic a villain. But the lauded, veteran actor pulls a left hook, then a right, and after a wild bodyshot at the tail end of the film, you see the true mania behind his eyes. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: "Gangster Squad" talks tough and hits hard, but it is a victim of its own brute force. Read more

Cary Darling, Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com: Gangster Squad may be loosely based on truth -- the takedown of notorious Los Angeles crime lord Mickey Cohen 60 years ago -- but it feels about as real as a mob-themed costume party. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The movie, as criminal drama, goes nowhere. Read more

Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: These are good actors, but aside from Brolin and Gosling, they're barely given any special moments of their own to make their marks here. Read more

Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: When the gun smoke clears, the body count is finished and the blood is mopped up, "Gangster Squad" is little more than another Hollywood wannabe overshadowed by the legacy of "L.A. Confidential"... Read more

Connie Ogle, Miami Herald: Gangster Squad is The Untouchables moved west and cheesed up. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: A good-looking cast and strong action sequences are just enough to forgive the cornball script. Read more

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Some of the clothes and makeup feel as glossy as paint, but, those aside, we seem to browsing through a display of secondhand goods. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Any resemblance to history here is restricted to some snazzy spectator shoes and cans of Schlitz beer. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Fleischer's noir-influenced focus on O'Mara and Cohen offers hints of interesting commentary about Hollywood's historical visions of good and evil. But it's a strong starting point that fizzles by the finale. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: A cartoonish 1940s shoot-'em-up that's impossible to take seriously. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Gangster Squad's violence has a graphic, contemporary feel that's at odds with the vintage crime pics the film wants to celebrate. This isn't the heavy-handed CG-noir of Sin City, but even so, it feels fake. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Its determination to follow The Untouchables' template (without the benefit of a David Mamet script) makes it a little too predictable to be memorable. Read more

Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com: Gangster Squad" is a highly stylized, pulp-fiction period piece based on true events. Read more

Jeff Shannon, Chicago Sun-Times: By the time it fades to black, "Gangster Squad" has squandered most of its early promise. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Gangster Squad [is] a mob epic that flushes a classy cast (Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone) down the sinkhole of creative bankruptcy. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: A complete whitewashing of one of the most vicious and racist paramilitary organizations in American history: the Los Angeles Police Department. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: Director Ruben Fleischer leans hard on the violence card, but with little return in the way of excitement, and at the expense of character and story. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Despite a cast of gifted actors, lush 1940s production design and suave costumes, it's bereft of inspiration, plowing familiar terrain past the point of tedium to impatience. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: Gangster Squad is to the great tradition of the Scarface genre what plastic is to cutlery - tiny, imitative, disposable. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: The actors do their best, but they're bringing their "A" game to a decidedly "B" production, with Penn being the most enthusiastic of this game crew. Read more

Alonso Duralde, TheWrap: If nothing else, it's way better than you'd expect any movie released by a major studio in January would ever be. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Though based partly on actual events, Ruben Fleischer's ludicrous shoot-'em-up plays fast and loose with the facts, and plenty else besides. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: An impressively pulpy underworld-plunger that embellishes on a 1949 showdown between a dedicated team of LAPD officers and Mob-connected Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn) for control of the city. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice: A crime against cinematic sensibility. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Slick, sick, self-consciously stylish and defiantly shallow, Gangster Squad is one of those movies you can't talk about without invoking other (often better) movies. Read more