Southie

Okay so we all know South Boston has some tough characters (calling Whitey Bulger?), but in John Shea's stark, Irish GoodFellas wanna-be, everyone's either a dick-scratching hood or a distressed woman tethered to one. Former New Kid on the Block Donnie Walhberg is credibly sympathetic and cathartic as Danny Quinn, the fallen son who returns home to patch together his deteriorating family structure. His mother (played with warm grit by Anne Meara) suffers from a stress-related coronary condition, his brother can't hold a job and has a mounting gambling habit, and his sister (Rose McGowan showing a surprising ability to emote) is a hard-drinking alcoholic. To make matters worse, Quinn's buddies are deep into the local mob faction for setting up an "after-hours" club, an old rival has an ax to grind, and a turf war hangs heavy in the air.

The crisp, on-the-street feel of Southie is stylistically alluring, and the eclectic soundtrack, which commingles punk, rap, Celtic folk, and rock, provides a poignantly subtle energy, but as a novice director Shea, in his rush to paint "his" Southie as a dark and foreboding underworld, aggrandizes each scene with looming tragic circumstance and overheated conflict. What begins as a well-intentioned gangster flick heads south for regions that are bombastic, scattered, and one-dimensional.

-- Tom Meek