The Wannabe (2015)

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Thomas idolizes the Mob and especially 'the Teflon Don' – John Gotti, seeing him as a modern day Robin Hood and the incidental crimes as sort of a necessary evil – sort of thing. Anyway we join them in 1992 when Gotti is on trial and the Teflon becomes 'Velcro' as all the charges start to stick.Now Thomas is going out with a girl of questionable intellect and indeed taste who is brilliantly played by Patricia Arquette. Desperate to become part of the Gangsta scene Thomas hatches a plan to free his idol but in so doing he sets off a chain of events that he will become useless to control.So is it any good? Well it is very watchable but sometimes feels very small in that it is a very personal tale about – essentially- two people and how they believe their own bull. Whilst this does not detract from the entertainment it also leave unmolested the underlying issues of worshipping the worst in society. That said it is still a well made and acted film that will appeal to any who like mob lore but it is not in the same league as the 'Goodfelllas' of this world.

I am not sure what to think about this movie. It shows an obsessed man trying everything he can to worm his way into the Gambino Crime family in New York in 1992. He is obviously delusional and focused on his quest and gets involved with a women who enables him instead of helping him find a way out of his fantasy. The story follows Thomas as he spirals out of control on his way down the rabbit hole. With the Scorsese name attached this got made but the writer/director Nick Sandow did not do anyone any favours as this could have been much better. I usually do not like it when the same person writes and directs as they are too close to the subject and can't see obvious errors that a fresh set of eyes might catch. Plus, they often fall in love with their writing and leave in certain scenes and scenarios that don't necessarily move the story along. If it does not advance the story...leave it out.

This is based on a true story. One might wonder how it ever found its way into a movie script, but we are lucky it did. It is a very scary story. It reminds me in many ways of Taxi Driver, about a man driven by obsession into violence. It is the same sort of setting. But the character is not repulsed by crime, he is obsessed with it and the glamor it represents in his deluded mind.He finds a woman to share and advance his fantasies. His closeness to the environment of real organized crime, including being a failed gangster himself speeds his descent into criminality. Unlike Travis in Taxi Driver whose source of mental instability is never really explained, drugs play a major role in the behavior of the Wannabe.Is all of organized crime fueled by the same delusions? Not in this movie, the Wannabe is a pest to organized crime, to be stomped out. Nobody is impressed by his quest for recognition and reputation.

"Don't write the history books yet." Thomas (Piazza) has become obsessed with the trial of John Gotti and thinks it is his mission to find a way to get him off. When his plan falls through He tries to find another way to become a wise-guy. The only way he can think to do this is to begin robbing mafia hangouts. Together him and his wife Rose (Arquette) complete a string of hold-ups that finally gets him noticed. I am a huge fan of any type of mafia movie. There was a fantastic movie called Rob The Mob that came out a few years ago that dealt with this same story. Like that one this one is also very good and I really liked it. There were some differences between the two but the biggest one was that Thomas was played as someone who talks a big game, but is different when he is in action in this movie. To me that little change really added to the realism of this and added to the overall feel of the movie. The acting is really good in this, but Piazza's portrayal is really what makes the movie and I highly recommend this. Overall, a very good movie that really makes you relate to Thomas, something that is usually hard to do in a mafia movie. I give this a high B+.