The obvious, cynical connection here is with "Young Guns," which was a Western that found box-office success by casting hot young actors in the fictionalized roles of real-life cowboy killers.
"Mobsters" is very much "Young Tommy Guns," with Christian Slater (who co-starred in the "Young Guns" sequel) as Lucky Luciano, Patrick Dempsey as Meyer Lansky, Richard Grieco as Bugsy Siegel and Costas Mandylor as Frank Costello, all real-life, big-time gangsters in the '20s and '30s.
Unfortunately, none of these boys looks particularly grown up in their trench coats and fedoras and they shouldn't be playing with guns.
The film begins with the foursome as youths in New York's east side, where they grow up fast and become street-smart while watching their parents terrorized and their friends killed by local mob bosses.
It quickly becomes apparent that the film is not going to focus equally on the foursome, however. Charles "Lucky" Luciano gets the lion's share of screen time as he becomes the gang's leader, aided by the brains of the outfit, Meyer Lansky, nominally the film's second biggest role. Slater and Dempsey are good as Luciano and Lansky, respectively, though they never quite scratch the surface of their characters. But Grieco's Bugsy and Mandylor's Costello are irritating, stereotypical caricatures throughout.
In the end, however, it doesn't matter. They are all played for sympathy, as if they are 1920s yuppie go-getters the audience is supposed to admire, which gives the film a dubious sense of morality. Especially since there are no good guys — there isn't even a cop who isn't on the take.
Where you might think "Mobsters" owes something to the success of "GoodFellas" and the "Godfather" films, it really owes a lot more to the old Warner Bros. gangster pictures of the '30s, which were purely visceral action films. Except for being in color and top-heavy with R-rated gore, sex and nudity, "Mobsters" could star young Cagney and Bogart and George Raft.
The plot has Luciano and friends rising in the mob business, primarily bootlegging liquor, and eventually concocting a plan to pit the two reigning New York Mafia dons against each other.
But that itself is a con. The movie is really about action, which in this case means most of the film's budget went to special-effects blood bags.
There are a few artsy gimmicks here and there — the opening segment under the credits is in black and white, two important roles are played by Oscar-winning veterans (Anthony Quinn, F. Murray Abraham) — but "Mobsters" is really nothing more than wild-eyed blood 'n' guts.
I wanted something more, but if that's enough for you, enjoy.
"Mobsters" is rated R for considerable violence and gore, profanity, sex and nudity.