It wasn't very long into the picture that I realized any semblance to historical accuracy was right out the window, so when that happens all you can do is either turn it off or go along for the ride. This would never be considered in the same league as "The Godfather" or "Goodfellas", but for a couple hours of diversion it's not the worst you could do. Still, the movie's casting is a little suspect when you consider what real life mobsters look like, not at all like the hunks selected here for their box office draw appeal for the Millenial set. Now Anthony Quinn, he looks like a gangster given the right milieu. Put him in front of a bowl of pasta like they did here and he's a veritable Don Corleone, but that'll only get you so far. You need a compelling story and good character development in any genre and this story was just too superficial. So all things being equal, my summary line quote from the film doesn't really apply to the picture, but there was one line that made an impression that I'll probably wind up using more than once - "A wedding is like a funeral, but with musicians".

In 1917 NYC, local mob boss harasses Charlie 'Lucky' Luciano (Christian Slater)'s family. Five years later, he, Bugsy Siegel (Richard Grieco),Meyer Lansky (Patrick Dempsey) and Frank Costello (Costas Mandylor) are a petty criminal gang. They work under bootlegger Arnold Rothstein (F. Murray Abraham). Lucky falls for showgirl Mara Motes (Lara Flynn Boyle). The old bosses are competing and they survive by joining Don Masseria (Anthony Quinn). Faranzano (Michael Gambon) tries to force Lucky to join. The boys decide to take out both Masseria and Faranzano.

The overacting overwhelms this movie. It's not just the young cast. The older cast don't come off well either. Anthony Quinn is going over the edge and there are a few side characters that are too insane. Slater and Dempsey leads the younger cast. I'm actually fine with Slater and Dempsey does better I expected. They are not good but there are worst acting involved. This movie is pretending to be a gangster movie rather than simply be gritty. The story is a mess. Not much of it works.

Mobsters casts four young players of the day as four of the legendary gangland figures of the 20th Century in their salad days. Christian Slater, Patrick Dempsey, Richard Grieco, and Costas Mandylor play Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and Frank Costello respectively. The film is a fictionalized account of how the four of them wound up on top of the gangland heap.

Michael Gambon and Anthony Quinn play the two old style Mobsters who are rivals for the title of boss of all bosses in the New York City area. Playing Charles Ferranzano and Joe Masseria the two of them control most of the illegal liquor trade which gave organized crime in this country it's real foothold. But our young men prove to be tough, smart and resilient as they play off the two old bosses against the middle.

Mobsters as a film captures the ambiance of New York during prohibition very well. I'm not sure I would have cast Christian Slater as Lucky Luciano, still Slater does very well with the part. Richard Grieco as Bugsy Siegel is very good, you can see the genesis of Warren Beatty's character when he played Siegel in his film, Bugsy.

Note should also be mentioned of F. Murray Abraham as Twenties gambler Arnold Rothstein who was the initial sponsor of the young mobsters in training. And Nick Sadler is one frightening Mad Dog Coll. You'll see quite graphically where his nickname came from.

Mobsters is good viewing, not exactly historically accurate, but actually sticks closer to the truth than most films of this type.