Blood Ties

"Blood Ties" feels a lot like a film made by someone who grew up on a diet of gritty 1970s crime flicks set in New York, made by the likes of William Friedkin, Sidney Lumet, and Martin Scorcese.

Clive Owen, making a spotty attempt at a "New Yawk" accent, and Billy Crudup, sporting a 'stache that would make Dennis "McCloud" Weaver proud, play brothers on opposite sides of the law. Chris (Owen) is just out of prison and trying, not very hard, to go straight, while Frank (Crudup) is a straight-arrow cop who reluctantly helps his brother. Marion Cotillard and Mila Kunis also turn up as Chris' former and current flames.

Director Guillaume Canet, who starred in the 2008 French film "Rivals," of which "Blood Ties" is a remake, is big on the "Goodfellas" trick of jacking scenes up with period pop tunes, and an opening police raid set to Hello's "New York Groove" is choice, though there ought to be a ban on using The Velvet Underground in scenes of people shooting up. Canet worked on the script with New Yorker James Gray ("We Own The Night," which had a remarkably similar plot), but the dialogue is surprisingly flat, albeit loaded with F-bombs.