DEUCES WILD
© 2002 United Artists

Mania Grade: C
Reviewed Format: Wide Theatrical Release
Rated: R
Stars: Stephen Dorff, Brad Renfro, Fairuza Balk, Norman Reedus
Writers: Paul Kimatian & Christopher Gambale
Director: Scott Kalvert
Distributor: United Artists

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DEUCES WILD

However, as DEUCES WILD unfolds, it becomes clear that director Scott Kalvert and writers Paul Kimatian & Christopher Gambale are dead serious. They have simply and earnestly cribbed from every '50s (and plenty of '40s and '30s) gangster movie they've ever seen and strung together the most familiar elements as forthrightly as possible. "I told you not to deal drugs here," Leon snarls at the watching Marco (Norman Reedus), which gets us off to a clear-as-can-be start. Cut to three years later, when Marco is about to be released from prison for said drug-dealing. Leon heads up a neighborhood street gang, the Deuces, who have hostilities brewing with Marco's crew, the Vipers.

Following Allie's death, Leon has vowed to keep his street clean of drugs, though he reprimands followers who take action without his okay. Fritzie (Matt Dillon), the big man in the 'hood, theoretically supports Leon, but in fact intends to let one of his properties serve as a front for drug-running. Marco wants to help Fritzie move the merchandise and wants a piece of Leon. Meanwhile, Leon's hotheaded younger brother, our narrator Bobby (Brad Renfro), has fallen for "Annie the Ice Cube" (Fairuza Balk), sister of one of Marco's goons.

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Stephen Dorff leads the pack in DEUCES WILD

© 2002 United Artists

The production design by David L. Snyder looks period-perfect and John A. Alonzo's cinematography is very handsome and appropriately retro-looking. However, this is married to a plot that telegraphs its every well-worn beat and dialogue that sounds lifted from every gang youth movie of the period. One truly curious element of the story is that almost none of the characters carry guns they prefer to beat and occasionally stab each other. This seems such an odd choice for 20^th Century urban gangs that perhaps it's historically correct if so, this may be the movie's most significant departure from its cinematic inspirations. Unfortunately, the fight melees are blocked and shot so awkwardly that decently-executed climax excepted they look pretty stagy.

A lot of money and care has been expended in making DEUCES WILD, as evidenced by its high physical production values. If you saw it on the late show and assumed it was made in the '50s, you wouldn't think twice. Indeed, if you like the '50s street gang genre, you may well be entertained by this latecomer into the fold. It's just the fact that DEUCES WILD is a 2002 release that makes it an oddity. There's a kind of brave honor in the filmmakers' determination to abide by conventions of the past (except for language, which has contemporary roughness), even though there's also a good measure of unintentional silliness.