Brooklyn, 1975: two brothers, Brian (Nick Thurston) and Danny (Geoffrey Wigdor), live under the threat of violence from their alcoholic father (Stephen Lang), while helpless mother (Karen Allen) looks on. Danny is looking to crime as his way out of his crappy life while Brian’s a secret artist with aspirations to higher education. Brian also works at a theatre where the Rolling Stones are going to play. TV veteran Gray’s probably best known for *The Ghost Whisperer,* and this period drama couldn’t be more different in tone from that show. There are moments of real feeling, especially from Thurston, but unfortunately it fails to miss any of Hollywood’s more egregious Irish-American stereotypes, becoming trite and sentimental by the end.
This article appears in Jul 21-27, 2011.