Gangster Squad

There’s nothing like a good old-fashioned gangster picture.
Unfortunately – boom, boom! – Gangster Squad is nothing like a good old-fashioned gangster picture.
Proving that even the most phenomenal ensemble cast will flounder without a steady director, helmer Ruben Fleischer is out of his depth in this soulless send-up of the noir genre. Known for the very witty Zombieland and the far less witty 30 Minutes Or Less, Fleischer’s attempt to adapt his sly comedy stylings to something more slick and serious falls flat.
Caught in a no-man’s-land of homage, update and pastiche, Gangster Squad fails to do any of them particularly well. Instead of a glorious explosion of style, suspense, sex and scenery-chewing, what we’re instead left with is merely the vaguest scent of potential lingering in the air, like smoke from a moll’s cigarette.
The story, set in deepest and richly rendered ‘50s LA noir, follows an elite and clandestine squad of rogue law enforcement, sharp shooters and the obligatory tech nerd. They are determined to bring down the infamous crime lord Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn). Ever-charming as the love interest, Emma Stone is caught between an overly histrionic Penn and an uncharacteristically dull and affected Gosling. Fleischer fares well with the early action scenes, imbuing Christmas shootouts and suspenseful Chinatown showdowns with visual flair. But as deftly edited slow-motion shots and arresting close cuts give way to gratuitous Matrix-lite effects and cheap visual gags, the action ceases to excite.
Handcuffing his cast with horribly clunky dialogue and failing to strike a balance between Dick Tracy campness and its LA Confidential seriousness, Fleischer’s forgettable flick is much less than the sum of its parts.