MOVIE REVIEW: Gangster Squad

1949 Los Angeles is the setting for Gangster Squad, inspired by the true story of how boxer turned mob boss Mickey Cohen played by Sean Penn tried to control the City of Angels through his drug dens, brothels and casinos  by paying off judges, police officers and even the media.

LAPD Chief of Police Parker (Nick Nolte) thinks the only way to stop the total control of Cohen's underground crime empire is to put up a group to destroy it. Led by WWII Vet Sgt. John O'Mara (Josh Brolin), he recruited a team of non-corrupt LAPD men with the help of his pregnant wife Connie (Mirreille Enos) that includes ladies man Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), whiz Officer Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi), sharpshooter Officer Kennan (Robert Patrick), street smart (Anthony Mackie) and a last minute addition (Michael Pena, who seems to be monopolizing the Hispanic LAPD police officer whether in current time (End of Watch) and this movie's post war era).

Sean Penn is effortless as well as enjoying his showy villainy role  as Cohen and Brolin plays in straight as the team of the team. Gosling brought his roles in Crazy, Stupid, Love and The Ides of March into this era and it works as well. Emma Stone is lovely to look at as Cohen's muse who falls in love with Gosling's officer character but she's a bit underutilized in the film.
Taking a break from directing comedies, most notable is the brilliant Zombieland, Ruben Fleischer loves to play with the camera with modern touches such as slo-mo, freeze frame and stylish editing that can easily be converted to the 3D if they wanted to (Thankfully, they did not).
Gangster Squad is not as brilliant and complex as LA Confidential but it is a fun and entertaining thrill ride in an era in which Hollywood could have been ruled by the mob the same way that Vegas did in that time.