Review By: Stephen Snart
StephenSnart@TheCinemaSource.com

In 2000, Giovanni Ribisi starred in Boiler Room, a cautionary tale about young, hotshot stock brokers, that was heralded as a junior successor to Wall Street. Now, he’s in 10th and Wolf and it’s very much a junior version of one of 1997’s best films, Donnie Brasco. While Boiler Room was dubbed “junior” as a term of endearment for its respectful homage, 10th and Wolf is “junior” only in its infancy.

James Marsden stars as Tommy, the son of a Mafia hitman who vowed never to enter that lifestyle after his father was gunned down when he was 12. Instead, Tommy joined the Marines and became a seasoned soldier until one day his self-revelation of the futility of war causes him to snap. In a rage, he beats up his MP and commandeers his Colonel’s jeep – at least that’s what we learn in his interrogation, all we get on screen are sun streaked cross-fades of Tommy driving over countless sandy dunes.

Conducting the interrogation is Detective Horvath (Brian Dennehy). He considers Tommy’s credentials and offers him an alternative to judiciary action: return home and rat out his cousin Joey (Giovanni Ribisi), who is quickly becoming one of the premier gangsters in town. Joey and his partner Junior (Dash Mihok), the nasty type of guy who takes off his prosthetic limb and beats you to death with it, run a seedy nightclub in town while also dabbling in drug trafficking during the wee hours of the morning. When Tommy returns home, he’s dismayed to find out that his dimwitted brother Vincent (Brad Renfro) is caught up in the illegal activity as well.

Considering Ribisi’s performance in Boiler Room was one of the few things I didn’t like about the film, I was delighted by how stunningly effective he is as the incensed and off-kilter, but rapturous, Joey. He isn’t quite Pacino, but he’s got gusto and it’s difficult to divert your eyes from him when he’s on screen, even when he’s sleeping blissfully in the corner of the screen.

Part of the reason Ribisi is so captivating is because most of the other performances aren’t as fearlessly devoted to the material as seems to be. Screen veterans Dennehy and Leslie Ann Warren give engaging performances but their characters are flat. At the center, Marsden is only marginally successful at occasionally conveying the internal guilt that would come with deceiving one’s family. Perhaps he’s is a bit too naturally charming to be believable as a smug, disillusioned tough guy; he’s better suited as an affable put-upon in Superman Returns.

There’s also Dennis Hopper in a tiny role as a Mob boss and even Val Kilmer pops up for a cameo in one of the film’s best scenes. Looking like a retired Hell’s Angel biker, if it wasn’t for his recognizable gravelly voice, Kilmer would be almost as unrecognizable as he was on Entourage two years ago. Naturally, his scene is just shy of being over-the-top and ...