Underworld (Denis Leary)

REVIEW
Leary does his best to make this Tarantino knockoff palatable, but to little avail. He plays Johnny Crown, an aging ex-con out to avenge his father's murder attempt (he was left in a coma) on one violent Father's Day night. His other agenda is the rehabilitation of a childhood friend-turned-mobster (Mantegna at his most mannered and annoying). Artificial in the extreme (presumedly intended to give the film a cinematic "no specific time or place" feel but coming across like bad undergrad theatre), Underworld apes Tarantino to the point of embarrassment, with none of his style or wit. There's the pop culture conversations (Rodgers & Hammerstein vs. Irving Berlin!), the sudden violence and absurdist situations, '70s & '80s character actors and even the sentimental male-bonding ending.