DEUCES WILD

At bottom, DEUCES WILD has a dynamic, realistic, storyline, but the execution leaves much to be desired. Also, although the movie contains some moral, redemptive and even Christian elements, excessive foul language, violence and other problems undermine these positive aspects.

Set in Brooklyn during the summer of 1958, the center of the story is Leon, the leader of the Deuces, a tough street gang that operates some illegal gambling, but generally protects the block on which they live. Leon is still haunted by the drug overdose death of his younger brother Allie three years ago at the hands of Marco, the leader of the Deuces arch-enemies, the Vipers. Someone ratted on Marco, and now Marco is due to come out of prison. Marco thinks Leon called the police on him, so he’s out for revenge. Marco also wants to set up a heroin dealership under the auspices of the local mobsters.

Meanwhile, Leon’s other younger brother, Bobby, has begun a relationship with Annie, the sister of Jimmy Pockets, the other leader of the Vipers and another drug addict. Although Annie hates her brother, who’s mean to both Annie and their mentally ill mother, Leon doesn’t trust Annie. Leon is also upset about Bobby’s tendency to pick unnecessary fights. Bobby thinks his brother is getting too soft, however.

Marco returns from prison and immediately starts provoking arguments and fights with the Deuces. Eventually, as the violence escalates, Leon is forced to take a stand against both the Vipers and the mobsters, who are trying to destroy the neighborhood by dealing drugs. Bobby supports his brother, but he also wants to provide a better life for him and Annie, away from the Brooklyn community that raised them.

DEUCES is shot in a melodramatic fashion that, at times, elicited laughter from some people at the press screening. The movie opens, in fact, during a dark and stormy night when Leon discovers that his brother Allie has died from a drug overdose because Marcos and the Vipers sold him drugs. There are also some annoying slow motion and fast motion fighting sequences that destroy the realism that the filmmakers claim they were seeking in making their movie. On the other hand, the acting is serviceable. Stephen Dorff, Brad Renfro and Fairuza Balk as Leon, Bobby and Annie handle the melodrama well, though the yelling and crying gets a bit silly a couple times. Apparently, one of the writers has worked with Martin Scorsese, and the New York City stereotypes that Scorsese sometimes falls prey to are handled even worse here.

Despite the constant violent atmosphere and the nearly constant foul language, DEUCES WILD takes an anti-drug stance. Furthermore, although the Deuces are forced to fight to keep their neighborhood clean of drugs, there are scenes in the movie where the local Roman Catholic priest pleads with Leon not to let the violence get out of hand. Finally, at the end of the movie, Bobby gives an important gift to the local church. Also, the movie implies (though not as strongly as it should) that Bobby and Leon’s attempt to use violence to stop the mobsters from bringing drugs into the neighborhood has failed.

All of these positive elements notwithstanding, the foul language in the movie is excessive. There are also scenes of implied fornication and heavy petting between Leon and his own girlfriend. Furthermore, although the movie gives a positive nod to Christianity, the protagonists win by being more successful at fighting than the bad guys and, in one important case, stealing from their illegal activities. Therefore, MOVIEGUIDE® does not recommend DEUCES WILD.