REVIEW: Lansky Provide a Confusing Look at Mob Boss, Meyer Lansky’s Life
Based on true events, Lansky follows writer, David Stone (Sam Worthington), who just needs one great story to get his career back on track. When Stone receives a call from aging, notorious gangster, Meyer Lansky (Harvey Keitel), he thinks his luck has begun to change. As he sets out to write Lansky’s life story as a business man, a gangster, and his life as the boss of Murder Inc. and the National Crime Syndicate, Stone begins to relate to Lansky story and sympathize with him. However, when a run-in with the FBI threatens his work, Stone realizes that his luck may not have changed at all.
Keitel is the perfect actor to play the aging gangster. Every scene where he is telling his character’s story is intriguing and captivating. He will draw you in and keep you drawn in until the flashback scene begins to play. This is where the story begins to lose the audience. John Magaro plays the younger Lansky and his scenes felt choppy and unfinished. There were parts that felt as if they were left on the drawing room floor.
Keitel is joined in the movie by Worthington, Minka Kelly and AnnaSophia Robb. Worthington does well against Keitel, but in the scenes where there was no Keitel, his performance lacked. Kelly played Stone’s motel room neighbor, Maureen, and was merely a plot piece for Stone’s progression. They could of left her character out of the film, changed a few pieces of the story, and the outcome of the film wouldn’t of changed.
Robb played Lansky’s wife, Anne, and did a good job bringing the gangster’s wife to life. Her character helped shed light on Lansky’s family life and the type of man he was outside of the mob world. However, like Kelly’s Maureen, she felt merely like a plot piece. Just a character introduced to propel the story along, but not a character introduced to be a major contributor, which is a shame because she provided a different perspective to Lansky. If it has been explored a little more I think it would of added some more meat to the story.
Overall, Lansky is not the greatest mob film out there, that title still belongs to The Godfather. But, it is a good film to watch if you are into those types of films. For those who aren’t, I would recommend passing on this or checking it out when it airs on TV.
Grade: B-