One doesn’t have to watch “We Own the Night” very long before realizing that the studio had absolutely no idea how to market this thing. The trailer sets up the film as some kind of good brother versus evil brother showdown, which it is not. I also think the title is stupid. Oh sure, it's a phrase used by the NYPD during the 1980's in an effort to reclaim the streets, but who the hell knows that? To most people, it sounds like a marketing ploy by some ad executive to suggest that it’s a battle between good and evil on the streets of New York during the evening. Hey, it's a great title for a vampire movie though. Since this film is about family and character, it doesn’t really work.

Joaquin Phoenix and his cleft lip star as Bobby Green, whose real name is Bobby Grusinsky. He’s the son of the NYPD Chief of Police, Burt (Robert Duvall), and the brother of its newest Captain, Joseph (Mark Wahlberg), but nobody knows that except his hot girlfriend, Amada (Eva Mendes). Bobby works on the other side of the tracks, managing a club, where various forms of illicit entertainment take place. What Bobby’s patrons don’t know about his family, the better for Bobby, especially when a Russian drug dealer begins discussing a distribution deal with Bobby. Why he discusses it with Bobby, I don’t know. Why he needs permission from Bobby, I don’t know.

Due to the title and the misleading advertising, it won’t be readily apparent what the film is really trying to do until it’s over, leading me to retitle it “Pussyville”. It’s really a film about a disgraced family member who’s much more intelligent and courageous than the family members who are embarrassed by him. Both Joe and Burt, for lack of a better description, are pussies. They’re dumbasses too. They’re well-meaning, I suppose, but dumbasses nonetheless. When you get right down to it, what this film is really about, and it’s kind of depressing, is how if you’re related to well-meaning pussy dumbasses it’s all but impossible to extricate yourself from their messes if you care even one iota about them.

It’s my understanding from reading Peter Travers in “Rolling Stone” that director Gray may be the inspiration for the Billy Walsh character on “Entourage”. Walsh is an occasionally brilliant, but conceited spoiled brat who strides around Hollywood like he owns the place. Not surprisingly, “We Own the Night” comes across like it was directed by a fitful, if brilliant, six-year-old. Anytime a film makes a concession to the audience’s stupidity, it compromises its integrity and submits itself as the dumb-downed version of what it should have been. Two short sequences illustrate this point. The first happens when Joe freezes during a shoot-out. Since we’ve been witness to the traumatic event that causes that freeze, it stands to reason that any audience member who’s paying attention would know exactly why Joe freezes. Just to make sure though, Gray flashes back to the event, one of the critical moments in the film, just in case we forgot. It’s insulting. Similarly, at the end, after Bobby has made sacrifices including the break-up of his relationship with Amada, we get another sort of flash where Bobby sees Amada’s face in the crowd. This is like the director saying “hey, in case you fell asleep during my boring ass movie, here’s why the main character looks so sad.” Again, it’s insulting and displays an alarming lack of self-confidence.

That lack of self-confidence comes about, I theorize, because Gray is a premature ejaculator, professionally-speaking, of course. You see, when it comes to plot or nude scenes, smart directors use this thing called build up. They create anticipation. So, as an example, if you were going to have your lead actor whip out and suck on your lead actresses breast, you probably wouldn’t want that to happen thirty seconds into the film. In “We Own the Night”, it happens 30 seconds into the film.

Interesting how well the word “premature” describes this director.