barb hoffman

A mess of a movie - all posturing and pandering to the lowest common denominator. One wonders what IOU's compelled David Chase and his co-conspirators to have series star Michael Imperioli deliver the pointless narration, in which Tony Soprano's epiphany comes with Christopher Moltisanti's daddy's death. That last, played by the usually wonderful Alessandro Nivola, is a cipher here, who inexplicably embraces his imprisoned, expressionless uncle (Ray Liotta, doing dour double duty as a wife beater and an enlightened con). One ridiculous shootup after another, the rare bright moments courtesy of Vera Famiglia, doing a dead-on Edie Falco Livia, and James Gandolfini's son Michael, who plays the young Tony. The less said about a hopelessly miscast Corey Stoll and the painful mimicking of an ersatz Silvio, the better. One bright spot: running to rewatch the entire series again.