Vin Diesel finally gets to play a real character, said Rene Rodriguez in The Miami Herald. The muscle-bound hero of The Fast and the Furious is 'œutterly disarming' in this new persona, sporting a fake gut and a sparse wig as Giacomo 'œJackie Dee' DiNorscio, the New Jersey mobster who defended himself during a 21-month trial in the 1980s. Much of the dialogue is actually taken directly from courtroom transcripts, which recorded DiNorscio telling the jury he was a 'œgagster,' not a 'œgangster.' Diesel is a strange choice for a film by Sidney Lumet, director of such classics as 12 Angry Men and Dog Day Afternoon, said Michael Phillips in the Chicago Tribune. But Lumet doesn't seem to be taking this story too seriously. It is, after all, a 'œpretty hilarious miscarriage of justice,' in which a score of Lucchese cohorts are tried in a courtroom resembling a circus. The movie chugs along good-naturedly until the arresting cameo by Sopranos alum Annabella Sciorra, said Gene Seymour in Newsday. Only after she appears as DiNorscio's embittered ex-wife do 'œyou notice how hard Diesel has to work to keep up.'
Rating: R
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Catherine O'Hara: The madcap actress who sparkled on ‘SCTV’ and ‘Schitt’s Creek’Feature O'Hara cracked up audiences for more than 50 years
-
Judge rejects California’s ICE mask ban, OKs ID lawSpeed Read Federal law enforcement agents can wear masks but must display clear identification
-
Lawmakers say Epstein files implicate 6 more menSpeed Read The Trump department apparently blacked out the names of several people who should have been identified
