Movie Review: Barry Levinson's 2025 Mob Drama:The Alto Knights

The Alto Knights: Robert De Niro may need to sever professional ties with director Barry Levinson following their collaboration on The Alto Knights. Of course, they can remain friends outside of work. The duo has previously produced successful films such as Sleepers and Wag the Dog, but their recent projects, including What Just Happened? and the television film The Wizard of Lies, have been disappointing.



Their latest effort, The Alto Knights, chronicles the lives of mob bosses Vito Genovese and Frank Costello during the 1950s. The film feels so excessively clichéd that it is truly remarkable that it was ever produced. It is worth noting that the film brings together the talents of De Niro, Levinson, and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi, all of whom have contributed to iconic crime dramas over the past twenty-five years. De Niro even takes on the dual roles of Genovese and Costello, utilizing heavy prosthetics to portray a younger version of himself.

However, to label Levinson and De Niro’s latest project as contrived would be overly generous. It instead resembles a hollow imitation of Goodfellas, one that seems more suited for production three decades ago. In fact, the film has been in development since the 1970s, and, regrettably, the final result raises questions about the rationale behind its creation.

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