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Donnie Brasco

1997

Mike Newell

Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, James Russo ...

7.3

28,142

Drama Joe Pistone (Johnny Depp) is an FBI who mole ingratiates himself into the Mafia pecking order by posing as "jewel man" Donnie Brasco. He finds his loyalties divided when Lefty Ruggiero, a jaded hit man, takes him on as a protégé and places real trust in him. The two men form a friendship--and a criminal partnership--that jeopardizes Brascos mission and obscures the boundaries between the law and the underworld. The film is based on the ... [+]

	Author	Review
United States	Janet Maslin The New York Times	"The best crime movie in a long while (...) Depp turns tough so easily and charismatically that it's easy to forget he was ever Gilbert Grape or Edward Scissorhands"	POS
United States	Peter Travers Rolling Stone	"Pacino and Depp are a match made in acting heaven (...) Donnie Brasco has a sting in its tail that is rare in a movie from a major Hollywood studio"	POS
United States	Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times	"The movie has many human qualities and contains what will be remembered as one of Pacino's finest scenes (...) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"	POS
United States	Owen Gleiberman Entertainment Weekly	"A wonderfully dense, clever, and moving gangland thriller"	POS
United States	Mick LaSalle SFGATE	"The true soul of the New York mob is portrayed in Donnie Brasco, a first-class Mafia thriller that is also in its way a love story -- perhaps director Mike Newell's best."	POS
United States	Desson Howe The Washington Post	"Entertaining in bursts (...) Mike Newell is not the person for the job. The movie’s disappointingly straightforward, with no discernible flair."	NEU
United Kingdom	Kim Newman Empire	"Depp and Pacino elevate this with two great performances, but they're helped by a solid script and a great supporting cast (...) Rating: ★★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Time Out	A tense, sharp and compelling character study, Newell's film is a worthy addition to the Mob-movie canon"	POS

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