'Brooklyn Rules'

Still quaking from "Sopranos" withdrawal? Terence Winter, the show's Emmy-winning writer and producer, penned this story about three Brooklyn boys growing up on the fringes of the mob. Life in the underworld's shadow is seen as less dangerous, but also less lucrative, than stepping into the darkness. To cross, or not to cross, that line?

It's hard to avoid getting sucked into "Brooklyn Rules" ( ), an outstanding story by a talented writer. Director Michael Corrente implies much nefarious activity going on off camera as he focuses on three best friends living in a tough neighborhood, where everyone knows what's going on, but no one dares to squeal.

Alec Baldwin is believable as a sociopathic mob boss who takes a distant liking to a hardworking college boy from the neighborhood, well-played by Freddie Prinze Jr. Everyone in town is at least slightly corrupted by the mob, and there are complications involved in staying outside. Mena Suvari plays the college girl pulling Prinze's character toward mainstream society, despite his inclination to play by "Brooklyn rules." And Scott Caan looks and acts a lot like a younger incarnation of his dad, James Caan, as his character dares to step over the line and cross into the underworld.

Like "GoodFellas," "Brooklyn Rules" is set during the real-life mid-80s New York gang wars, and is narrated by one of the characters. Unlike it, Winter's story is told from the outside looking in.

R for violence, pervasive language and some sexual content.

-- By John Hayes, PG staff writer

'Boy Culture'

This review originally appeared Oct. 19, when "Boy Culture" played as part of the Pittsburgh International Lesbian & Gay Film Festival. The movie opens today at the SouthSide Works Cinema.

X is the protagonist's name as well as the rating of his occupation (male hustler) in a nicely acted, weightier-than-usual gay melodrama titled "Boy Culture" ( ), adapted from Matthew Rettenmund's edgy novel.

X (Derek Magyar), who is 25 but looks 30, has an exclusive clientele of exactly 12 upscale "disciples" and lives in a nifty Seattle loft with roommates Andrew (Darryl Stephens), a sexy if sexually ambivalent black guy, and Joey (Jonathon Trent), a wild-and-crazy but vulnerable 18-year-old who's madly in love with him -- or just looking for a surrogate father?

X is madly in love with no one. He has big anger issues, in general -- about this tangled-up unrequited menage-a-trois situation in particular. But his new client, an urbane 70-something gentleman (Patrick Bauchau), brings about a crack in the emotional icecap, prompting X to ponder how his profession might be hindering his search for love.

Director Q. Allan Brocka ("Eating Out") elicits wonderful performances from all four of his leading men. Magyar's sensuality, not to mention the attraction between him and Stephens, are palpable -- even if their Guess Who's Coming to Dinner-in-Reverse sequence seems forced.

Otherwise, what elevates this slick Seattle-based soaper above the stereotypical ironies of gay life (and sex life) is its intelligent writing. Although the characters' affections and dilemmas are ultimately resolved in sentimental fashion, "Boy Culture" eschews hysteria, histrionics and HIV in favor of a more universal "trick" question: Better to love and lose, or never to love at all?

Answer: Carpe the gay/straight diem alike.

Not rated but adult in nature.

-- By Barry Paris, PG film critic