American Gangster

American Gangster

Directed by Ridley Scott (R)

A drug kingpin rules 1970s New York until the law catches up with him.

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“A little Superfly, a little Scarface, a little Serpico,” American Gangster is “not enough of all of them,” said Stephanie Zacharek in Salon.com. Produced by Brian Grazer and directed by Ridley Scott, this film has all the grit and gallantry to become a great criminal drama. Based on a true story, American Gangster chronicles the rise of drug lord Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) and his ruin, brought on by Detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe). The facts alone make Lucas’ life an epic tale, but Scott has “sliced and diced it into so many little morsels that almost nothing in it has any weight.” He switches between the stories of Lucas and Roberts to heighten their similarities and differences, but the two characters don’t meet onscreen until the very end. Yet both of these intertwining character studies are well developed and richly ironic, said Andrew Sarris in The New York Observer. Lucas is “the well-dressed churchgoing family man, community leader, and casually homicidal crime boss,” and Roberts is the “usually unkempt, womanizing failed husband and father but steadfastly honest narcotics detective.” Though Washington and Crowe deliver original performances, Scott falls back on mob-film stereotypes, said Dana Stevens in Slate.com. American Gangster could have prevailed as a battle of “two opposing moral universes” but instead ends up as a “wan buddy flick.”