Rotten
Every kitchen-sink dramatic cliche is trotted out in John Gray's Brooklyn period piece.
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune
Overview
A coming of age story set in 1975 working-class Brooklyn, in which two teenage brothers living with their abusive father and their well-meaning but ineffective mother are caught up in a life of petty crime. Older brother Danny concocts a daring scheme to steal enough money for the two to escape, timed around the chaos of an upcoming Rolling Stones concert. The sensitive younger brother, Brian, ultimately has a choice: remain loyal to the brother with whom he shares a powerful love-hate bond, or use his hidden talent as an artist as his own ticket out of their dead-end existence.
Director and cast
- John Gray Director
- Nick Thurston as Brian Leary
- Geoffrey Wigdor as Danny Leary
- Karen Allen as Margaret
- Stephen Lang as Patrick
- Peter Riegert as Whitey
- Leslie Murphy as Shauna Friel
- Zachary Booth as Todd McKay
- Robbie Sublett as Ray Stone (as Robbie Collier Sublett)
- Anthony Amorim as Young Danny
- Daniel Carpenter as Guy in Bar
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
44%
Tomatometer
Rotten
A movie that one watches with the sense of pushing it up a hill.
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
Fresh
Despite the cliches that push every scene forward, there's an unexpected appeal to John Gray's modest drama, emanating from its center.
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
Rotten
The basic outline of the plot, built around a promised local concert by the Rolling Stones - well, if you don't know where that story is headed, you haven't seen as many movies as I think you have.
Anthony Venutolo, Newark Star-Ledger
Fresh
Writer-director John Gray digs into his own background to create the ardent and atmospheric White Irish Drinkers. The close, cramped intimacy of this film is so real it stings.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
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