‘Every time you turn around down here, somebody else is dead…’
It must be incredibly frustrating when you make a competent film with a great cast and a solid premise, only for the whole thing to be shot down due to a simple case of bad luck. When director Phil Joanou released his neo-noir gangster film State of Grace in the middle of September 1990, he could never have known that it would eventually be up against one of the greatest gangster films ever made in Goodfellas. As a result of that, despite being a mostly enjoyable crime thriller, State of Grace is destined to always be forgotten…
The plot sees Sean Penn’s undercover cop, Terry, returning to the Hell’s Kitchen neighbourhood in which he grew up to try and ingratiate himself with brothers Jackie (Gary Oldman) and Frankie (Ed Harris) in order to take them down. The supporting cast features Robin Wright (she later married Penn, having met him on the set of this film), John Turturro and John C. Reilly.
In truth, the failure of State of Grace was more than just bad timing. This is a frustratingly competent film that takes absolutely zero risks and delivers absolutely nothing new to the table. Even in 1990, we had already seen this many times before. That’s not to say it isn’t often entertaining. Oldman chews so much scenery it’s a surprise that there was any left to film with, Harris is quietly menacing as always, and Penn and Wright unsurprisingly share an electric and authentic chemistry. In the end, however, it’s not enough to mark State of Grace out from the many other mob films of the ’80s and ’90s. If you’ve seen a handful of films in this genre, you’ve seen everything that this film has to offer.
I imagine State of Grace has its cheerleaders, and it was lauded upon release, but there is a nagging feeling that it is too often a pale imitation of other, better films.
