Gangster Squad

So last night I went to see “Gangster Squad” with my friends, and aside from being completely smitten with Ryan Gosling, we actually loved the film!  For those who haven’t seen the trailers, “Gangster Squad”, is set just after World War II in 1949, Los Angeles.  The city is being run by Brooklyn-born mob boss, Mickey Cohen (Sean Penn).  A merciless gangster who traffics guns, drugs, and prostitutes, and even has the protection of the police and politicians who are under his control.  He’s basically untouchable—but that isn’t enough to stop Sgt. John O'Mara (Josh Brolin) and Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling) from putting together an secret crew of LAPD outsiders to bring Cohen’s empire to the ground.  Emma Stone also stars as Cohen's etiquette coach and girlfriend—Grace Faraday.  She meets Jerry Wooters, and they begin a secret relationship. 

I love films that take place in a different time period.  Director, Ruben Fleischer does a great job of capturing the glitz and glam of 1940’s LA, and the cast is brilliant to say the least.  “Gangster Squad” got some negative reviews from the critics saying that the film, “suffers from lackluster writing, underdeveloped characters and an excessive amount of violence” (Rotten Tomatoes).  I think that the critics are full of baloney, and they take their jobs too seriously; but you should all go see it and decide for yourselves!

You can watch the trailer below and I also posted a clip of Emma Stone talking about the film on The Ellen Show.  You will probably notice that I will post a lot of clips from The Ellen Show because I love Miss DeGeneres.

Gangster Squad Trailer

photo source: plug-in.bestbuy.ca

Emma Stone on Ellen