Stand back, people. Stand back. Sean Penn is acting here.
Practically foaming with hydrophobia, Penn plays mobster Mickey Cohen in “Gangster Squad” in a performance rife with psychotic meltdowns. At first, it’s entertaining to watch as Penn bares fangs and madly masticates screenwriter Will Beall’s overcooked dialogue. But his shtick quickly wears thin. Give Penn this though: He imparts a manic energy to a picture that is otherwise pretty pro forma.
It’s 1949 and mob boss Cohen has LA under his thumb. The cops and judges are all on his payroll, and any rival who tries to muscle in on his operation gets torn to pieces — literally, in one particular instance early in the movie. What to do?
At the direction of LAPD Chief William Parker (Nick Nolte with a voice like boulders grinding underground), upright war hero copper Sgt. John O’Mara (Josh Brolin) forms an undercover squad of tough hombres whose assignment is to torch Cohen’s ill-gotten loot, trash his bookmaking operation and beat the living crap out of his hirelings. And not to let Cohen and his cronies know that it’s cops that are serving up the beat-downs.
His squad mates are kind of a Dirty Half-Dozen — misfits of one sort or another, not keen on authority and not shy about dishing out the rough stuff. They’re all stereotypes: the cool-dude black guy, handy with a switchblade (Anthony Mackie); the mustachioed old-school lawman with the old-fashioned six-shooter holstered on his hip (Robert Patrick); the dweeby tech guy who’s a whiz with surveillance equipment (Giovanni Ribisi); the fresh-faced Latino trying to win respect in a racist town (Michael Peña); and the slick, cynical Romeo (Ryan Gosling).
Then there’s Brolin’s O’Mara: square-jawed, humorless, talking in the clipped manner of “Dragnet’s” Joe Friday and wearing the same craggy disapproving expression he wore while channeling Tommy Lee Jones in “Men in Black 3.”
Of course there’s a standard-issue femme fatale, Emma Stone in a red dress slit up the thigh. She and Gosling’s character have a thing going, which they both know would get them killed if Cohen ever found out about it, and why he doesn’t until very late is one of the great mysteries of the movie. They certainly aren’t very secretive about it.
Under the direction of Ruben Fleischer (“Zombieland”), Tommy-gun battles abound and historical accuracy goes down in the hail of bullets. (Contrary to what the movie would have you believe, Cohen went to prison not for murder but for tax evasion.)
Everyone looks grand in their period clothes, but they’re making make-believe that is not in the least bit believable. ‘GANGSTER SQUAD’
* *
Cast: Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Michael Peña, Anthony Mackie, Emma Stone, Nick Nolte
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Rating: R; strong violence, language
Running time: 1:53
JOIN THE DISCUSSION | Register here
We welcome comments. Please keep them civil, short and to the point. ALL CAPS, spam, obscene, profane, abusive and off topic comments will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be blocked. Thanks for taking part — and abiding by these simple rules. A thorough explanation of rules of conduct can be found in our Terms of Service. If you have any questions, including why your comment may not be showing immediately after you submit it, be sure to visit the commenting FAQ.