Although it is not the first attempt to capture the life of the New York mobster on-screen,Gotti(2018) stands out as being the most memorable — but for all the wrong reasons. Directed by Kevin Connolly, the film documents the life ofthe famous mob boss, John Gotti. It garnered abysmal reviews from critics upon its release, and underperformed commercially as well.
Not only did it rank on Rotten Tomatoes’ list of“100 Worst Movies of All Time”, but it also got nominated for six Razzies, including Worst Actor (John Travolta) and Worst Picture. Although it was announced in 2010, the film took eight long years to make — only for the result to be an underwhelming and incomprehensible mess.
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What Is Gotti About?
Jumping back and forth between different timelines,the movie shows the rise of the mobsterGotti (Travolta) from an enforcer to the head of the Gambino crime family. Without touching upon his childhood, the first scene delves right into his time as a young associate in 1972: Aniello Dellacroce, underboss to Carlo Gambino (Marc Lawrence), asks him to kill a man as a favor “for the whole family”. Although this earns him four years in prison (of which he only serves two), the act makes him a “made man”. He goes on to live with his wife and five children, while working towards becoming a capo. His eldest son John “Junior” (Spencer Lofranco) is enrolled at the New York Military Academy, but is more interested in joining the mafia like his father.
Tragedy strikes a few years later when Gotti’s 12-year-old son Frank is accidentally struck down by a neighbor’s car (who is later abducted and never heard from again). Gotti struggles to help his pill-popping wife Victoria (played by the late Kelly Preston) to cope with the loss. Meanwhile, the Gambino family is under increased scrutiny, and Gotti raises doubts about the competency of Paul Castellano, the family boss. As a result, Castellano plans to break up his crew. Before Dellacroce dies of cancer, he helps Gotti formulate a plan to gain approval from the Five Families for eliminating Castellano. In 1985, Castellano is shot outside Sparks Steak House, and Gotti is named as his replacement. He is hailed as the “real-life Godfather” and “Teflon Don” by the media after escaping prosecution numerous times.
Rival boss Vincent Gigante (Sal Rendino) plots with Anthony Casso (Andrew Fiscella), the underboss of the Lucchese crime family, to avenge Gotti, but underboss Frank DeCicco is killed instead. Gotti’s close friend Angelo Ruggiero (Pruitt Taylor Vince) orders an unsanctioned (and ultimately unsuccessful) hit on Casso, which proves to be his undoing: to make peace with Gigante, Gotti casts him out of the crew. He eventually dies of cancer in 1989.
Salvatore Gravano (William Forsythe) becomes the underboss in 1990, but agrees to testify against Gotti in 1992 for murdering Castellano. He is finally sentenced to life in prison. Junior assumes his father’s role but is ultimately taken into custody in 1998. The entire film is structured around a conversation between him and an elderly Gotti (now diagnosed with throat cancer), who tries to convince his son not to consider a plea bargain as itdefies the code of the Cosa Nostra. Gotti dies in 2002, and Junior walks free after five trials, reuniting with his wife and kids.
What Did Critics Have to Say About Gotti?
With over 50 recorded critical reviews, the film has earned therare 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. For instance,The New York Postcalled it “the worst mob movie of all time”, andthe review on Roger Ebertwent as far as to say that “he may have been a murderer, but even Gotti deserved better than this”.
The very first scene shows Travolta looking directly into the camera and delivering cringe-worthy dialogues like, “This life ends one of two ways: Dead or in jail.” Not only is this a clear reminder of Ray Liotta breaking the fourth wall inthe 1990 classicGoodfellas, but it also sets similar (and low) expectations for the rest of the movie. As predicted, it continues to borrow from pop culture representations of gangsters, and strings them all together for one giant cliché. This takes away the opportunity to recreate or provide insight into the main events of Gotti’s life, like his first trial or his time in jail. Instead of showing why he is a man to be feared,Gottirelies on Travolta’s vocal flourishes and pursed lips to establish that he is supposed to be a ruthless character.
Since the film is based on John A. Gotti’s self-published memoir,Shadow of My Father, it does not come as a surprise that the story more or less glorifies the subject. He is shown as more or less a family man with strong values, and the majority of his criminal acts are kept off-screen. The movie even goes to great lengths to show why it is necessary to have Castellano executed. The ending includes a montage of Gotti’s real-life supporters portraying him as some sort of folk hero: “It was a lot cleaner neighborhood when Mr. Gotti was around.” Similarly, the plot seems as if it has been designed to clear Junior’s name by showing him in a more sympathetic light, and outrightly blaming the government.
