The Alto Knights

“The Alto Knights” ain’t “Goodfellas,” but it’s better than fine, fellas.

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I can understand why folks aren’t vibing with Barry Levinson’s based-on-a-true story gangster biopic “The Alto Knights” (now in theaters). It’s a mob movie minus the typical mob movie trappings, i.e. there isn’t a ton of violence, and it makes the quirky decision to have Robert De Niro play both of its main characters, but I found the proceedings to be surprisingly fun and funny.

De Niro plays the gregarious Frank Costello and the nefarious Vito Genovese. The men are lifelong friends-turned enemies who escape their humble beginnings in New York’s tenements to rise through the ranks of the American mafia. Frank made his bones during Prohibition where he slyly got a bunch of police officers and politicians in his pocket. Vito passes the reins to Frank when he flees for Italy to beat a murder beef, but he gets stuck in the boot when World War II breaks out and turns to peddling drugs to make ends meet.

Vito returns to New York in the 1950s with expectations of resuming power, but things were peaceful and prosperous under Frank’s watch. Frank’s willing to share the pie with Vito, but piece by piece and not all at once. This doesn’t sit well with Vito and war breaks out.

“The Alto Knights” assembles many of the creative forces behind “Goodfellas” 35 years after that seminal crime classic by having De Niro star, Nicholas Pileggi script and Irwin Winkler produce. A lot of folks seem to be referring to this as Martin Scorsese-lite and that’s fair to a point – it’s admittedly not as great as the masterful “Goodfellas” and “Casino” – but I liked it as well as “The Irishman” and it’s an hour and a half shorter. Also, while Levinson’s no Scorsese he’s no slouch either having earned his gangster movie bonafides with “Bugsy” back in the early 1990s.

The decision to have De Niro play both Frank and Vito is a curious one, but it works. I liked his work better as Frank and found him to be a more fully realized character, but Vito’s a darkly funny figure thanks to Pileggi’s dialogue and De Niro’s delivery. I’m sort of surprised they didn’t go out to Al Pacino to tackle one of the roles. This is De Niro’s fifth film with Levinson and could’ve been Pacino’s fourth. It wouldn’t have hit the heights of “The Godfather Part II” or “Heat,” but there’s no doubt in my mind it’d be a cooler collaboration than “Righteous Kill.”

While “The Alto Knights” is very much the Bobby D show, I did enjoy some of the supporting performances. I was tickled to see “The Sopranos” actors Kathrine Narducci, Michael Rispoli and Matt Servitto turn up as Vito’s live wire wife Anna, principled mafia boss Albert Anastasia and Frank’s attorney George Wolf, respectively. Cosmo Jarvis (late of FX’s “Shōgun” and soon to be seen in Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza’s “Warfare”) is also a good deal of fun as Vincent Gigante, a simple soldier in Vito’s ranks who’s incessantly hassled for a botched hit. Debra Messing is serviceable but arguably one-note as Bobbie, Frank’s pup-obsessed and put-upon wife.

“The Alto Knights” ain’t “Goodfellas,” but it’s better than fine, fellas.