Insufferable. Sure, it's autobiographical, but when your autobiography just reiterates the same story that we've seen in the movie theaters seven dozen times since Martin Scorsese made Mean Streets, why bother telling it? The movie is about a young Italian man growing up in a tough New York neighborhood (this time in Queens, but just as often in Brooklyn or the Bronx they seem pretty interchangeable in these movies) who hangs out with his stupid but lovable friends and deals with his strict but loving father (played here by Chazz Palminteri, big surprise) and secretly wishes to get out of this hellhole. The tiny kernel that propels the story is a rival group of friends, here black, no surprise, that is challenging the Italians' dominance. Blah blah blah. Christ. We also have part of the story taking place in present time, with a miscast and totally wasted Robert Downey Jr. playing the protagonist and trying to get his sick father, who has renounced his son, to go to the hospital. Blah blah blah. The film is a complete waste of talent and time. One of the worst of '06.