Sean Penn continues to kick out the jams of character excess, gracing us with a gross exaggeration to wash down the previous eccentric he tackled in This Must Be The Place. Going from a Boy George-like whispery wallflower to a gruff caricature of a cantankerous hood ought to give him enough of a break from playing all those Oscar-worthy roles he was best known for until lately. One would hope.
Just when expectations begin to soar that after the string of serious Top Ten-list-contending December films, a change-of-pace might be forthcoming with a film featuring an A-list cast telling the pulpy story of 40s mobster Mickey Cohen (Penn). Nobody foresaw Gangster Squad as L.A. Confidential, or even Bugsy. Yet the result wears a show-offy sheen that obscures the fun. Josh Brolin, Ryan Gosling, Giovanni Ribisi, Nick Nolte, and Emma Stone all come with their game. Four hundred and ninety cartoonishly violent scenes later it doesn’t matter. Glossy art direction and silly edits prevail. Must be a January film after all. Empty calories. You’ll find occasional tasty morsels but when director Ruben Fleischer (30 Minutes Or Less, Zombieland) lays out a style this bragadocious, and blares characters bereft of any meaning beyond the baleful and the superficial, the highs get wiped out by the film’s many lows.
Among the highs: Gosling continues his flip and cool hot streak from Blue Valentine, Drive, and Crazy, Stupid Love as he fearlessly goes after Cohen’s damsel (Stone). Josh Brolin’s determination as the cop ringleader of this motley vigilante gang that left their badges home is matched by his sheer will to move through this film and entertain us no matter what the director has in mind. Ribisi as an early tech-nerd who’s videotaping Cohen’s conversations plays the fish out of water counterpoint to all the macho crazies around him.
As for the lows, you start with Nolte, who seems downright embalmed as he puffs through his chief-of-police character as stiffly as the Tin Man. Then you move over to Penn, who looks so outrageous that his makeup seems to be wearing makeup. That’s already two strikes against taking him seriously but then his dialogue actually makes its way onscreen. Needless say, this ain’t Harvey Milk or Mystic River. More like Blood Bath and The Seven Hoods.
2 Penn chews the scenery and Fleischer bites it (out of 5)