Kathy Hamilton 
This weeks “Friday’s Favourite” is Gangster Squad. Let me tell you something, my brother and I never want to see the same film, ever. This causes major stress in our family and usually ends up with one, or both, of us flouncing dramatically from the room in a huff. He likes films along the lines of The Expendables, or anything with Arnold Schwarzenegger in it…and, well, I just don’t. So when we both wanted to see this film I knew that something miraculous had just happened. For this reason alone, it would warrant a place on “Friday’s Favourite”.
Anyway, we went to see it this week and it was SO good. The script was a winner for me, it was speckled with some really clever dialogue and just enough period slang to set the scene but not overkill it. I’ve said previously this is one of my pet peeves in any historical drama, there’s either not enough or too much. Gangster Squad had the perfect amount, in my opinion. There was a perfect balance between action and detail and the gore level was also not as bad as I was expecting. Yes there’s a couple of squeamish scenes, but they are relevant rather than just stuck in so Sean Penn (who is brilliant) can run around killing people. I would actually go as far as to say I was surprised by the restraint from gratuitous gore in this film. Gangster Squad also taught me some things about American history that I didn’t know before, which is always nice. I didn’t realise how “new” L.A was, for example, or that it had Gangsters. I knew about Gangsters (Thanks Bugsy Malone), but I didn’t know they ever got to L.A, so it gets points for that!
And, the costumes, can we please have a moment of silence to reflect on Emma Stone’s wardrobe in this film! Everything she wore went straight to my mental wish-list. I’ve heard that her red dress, which is in all the promo posters, was based on Jessica Rabbit, and I can totally see it. I just wish I had the occasions and the resources to dress myself like this. The men aren’t too shabby either, there’s something effortlessly stylish about a man in spats hunting down a King Pin, also in spats. Have you seen this film, or are you going to see it? If you have, what did you think? What’s your “Friday’s Favourite” this week?
I’ll leave you with this little treat, which I enjoyed, and seemed appropriate considering the theme of this “Friday’s Favourite”.
