2007’s “We Own the Night” plays as if somebody Googled “How to make a mobster family drama” and threw the results into a film. We got cops, club owners, family drama, drugs, one-dimensional girlfriends, and the Russian mob. The one thing it is missing? Depth.
The film is set in 1988 New York, in the middle of the NYPD’s war or drugs. It’s a dangerous time, even more so with family on the opposite side of the line. This is exactly the problem plaguing nightclub runner Bobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) and his cop brother Joseph (Mark Wahlberg) and cop father Burt (Robert Duvall).
“We Own the Night” opens with Bobby completely despising Joseph and Burt. When his father and brother inform Bobby they intend to raid his club, tensions cut even further between the trio. But a dramatic turn of events might bring the family together once and for all.
I’m not sure whether or not to place the blame of this film’s cliché nature on the writing or the performances given by the lead actors. Nothing about the story or the dialogue feels original. If you close your eyes, you can practically credit any of the lines to your run-of-the-mill crime drama.
So maybe it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that the actors don’t appear to really believe in the lines they are delivering. Phoenix carries the film as its lead, and the brightest spot in his performance is the shiny silver earring he sports in one ear. He dials the brooding angst up to 11 here — it wouldn’t be a shock if his performance illicited groans and eye rolls when “We Own the Night” was in theaters 10+ years ago.
Duvall and Wahlberg feel one-dimensional. At one point, Duvall expresses the same amount of fear for his son’s fate as one might over the fate of a misplaced sock. It’s a shame that these three immensely talented actors weren’t given enough to work with. And as for Eva Mendes, let’s just say I think we know where Heidi Gardner got the inspiration for her recurring “Saturday Night Live” character Angel.
“We Own the Night” tends to drag from a generic drug bust to dull undercover operation. A successful crime movie, even one that straddles the line of family drama and mob movie like this, needs enough bite and grit to be an engaging story. “We Own the Night” never quite digs deep enough to reach those levels.
-by Brynne Ramella
