Gangster Squad
Less hard-boiled than soft in the head.
DIRECTED BY RUBEN FLEISCHER
Between bribery, prostitution, drug-trafficking, and the odd brutal murder, Gangster Squad sees Sean Penn run up a formidable rap sheet as ruthless real-life mob boss Mickey Cohen. But if there’s anything truly criminal about this brazenly bloody and brainless effort from Zombieland director Ruben Fleischer, it’s that it thoroughly squanders a star-studded cast.
Opposite Penn, Josh Brolin and Ryan Gosling lead the titular band of honest-cops-turned-gang-busting-vigilantes tasked with toppling Cohen’s vice empire. Joining them to round out a roster of talented actors playing token archetypes are Robert Patrick, Giovanni Ribisi, Anthony Mackie, and Michael Pena, along with Emma Stone as a similarly underwritten moll.
Stone is ostensibly torn between Penn’s power and Gosling’s rakish panache, though this potentially compelling love triangle, like the film in general, amounts to far less than the sum of its fetching parts. While production designer Maher Ahmad deserves credit for an immaculate evocation of ‘40s L.A., Gangster Squad is an otherwise unworthy heir to Warner Bros. storied legacy as a purveyor of classic noir.