Variety and HR review "American Gangster"

So "American Gangster has been reviewed by two of the majors, and the news in good, but not great. It seems comparisons to "The Departed" and other such films is inevitable, but in this case it is not a good thing. Denxel Washington comes out the best though, and still could see his name called, but it will be an uphill battle.
Ridley Scott and the film may have to ride on a wave of sentimentality to win over Oscar voters.

Variety on Scott:

"Similarly miscast is director Scott, whose greatest strengths lie in bringing to life grandly conceived portraits of distant worlds past and future, rather than in contemporary realism. Maximizing a gritty big-city story requires a credibility composed of thousands of small details, and this is one area where a citizen-of-the-world director like Scott can't excel. It's akin to asking Lumet or Scorsese to make a definitive film about crime in '70s Newcastle -- they could do a respectable, even exciting job of it, but it probably wouldn't ring deeply true.

Variety on Crowe:

"Still, there's an irony in that, good as he is, Crowe is essentially miscast as the tenacious working-class Jewish kid who brings Frank down. Having an actor of Crowe's stature play Frank's adversary helps balance the film, but this is one of the few roles he's played for which he brings nothing special to the table, and which does not allow his considerable charisma to flourish."

Variety on Washington"

"Still, Washington's steely grip on his impersonation of Frank Lucas holds the film together. Even if he doesn't entirely give the impression of a street hustler who never attended school in his life, Washington presents a man of striking, thoroughly credible contradictions: cool businessman/explosive killer, loner/family man, engaging guy/scourge of society."

Variety on the film:

""American Gangster" wants to be a great epic crime saga so badly you can feel it. The true story at its core -- of the rise, fall and redemption of a '70s-era Harlem drug lord -- is so terrific, it's amazing it wasn't put onscreen long ago, and it would be difficult today to find two better actors to pit against one another, as hoodlum and cop, respectively, than Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe. With so many elements going for it, this big, fat Universal release is absorbing, exciting at times and undeniably entertaining, and is poised to be a major commercial hit. But great it's not."

Hollywood Reporter on the actors:

"You do sense in this movie that its principals are returning to safe harbor. After a discouraging foray into feeble comedy by Scott and Crowe ("A Good Year") and Gothic Southern melodrama for Zaillian ("All the King's Men"), these artists scramble back to an emotional naturalism more aligned to their sensibilities. Even for Washington, who seldom makes a false step careerwise, the film represents a welcome return to the larger-than-life villainy he performed so well in 2001's "Training Day.""

Hollywood Reporter on the film:

"If there are no false steps here, there are few highlights either. Such films as "The Godfather" and "Serpico" contain iconic scenes and sequences. "American Gangster" contributes little. It's workmanlike and engrossing, but what sticks in the mind are Frank and Richie, not what anybody does."

I had a gut feeling about this from the begining. Just didn't ring true as a film.