Mob Cops Movie Review – David Arquette’s Co-Stars Steal the Show

Danny A. Abeckaser’s Mob Cops bases itself on the infamous true-life story of two NYPD police officers working for the mob. Names are changed for the movie and creative license applied to areas of Kosta Kondilopoulos’ screenplay, but anyone familiar with the case of Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito recognizes the familiar beats. How can you not since dirty cops have become the basis of every crime drama for the past 25 years?!

In the film, Abeckaser’s character, Detective Tim Delgado, chases after the necessary evidence to put away Sammy Canzano (David Arquette) and Leo Bennetti (Jeremy Luke). The timeline jumps between two time periods as Delgado uncovers further secrets by flipping Canzano and Bennetti’s incarcerated boss Galiano (Joseph Russo) and the past where Canzano and Bennetti commit their crimes for Galiano and his crew and rise up the ranks.

The film plays out like any typical crime drama: A jaded Delgado hits countless brick walls as the system fails victims over and over again. Delgado perseveres, though, fighting against a city overtaken by crime and greed. For Canzano and Bennetti, they appear untouchable and use bureaucracy as their shield, but it’s their cockiness that undos everything in the end. It’s a familiar – albeit unoriginal – setup that’s been executed in better movies and television shows. 

Where Mob Cops does get interesting is in the third act after Bennetti writes a book about a “mob cop” and flirts with Hollywood, which mirrors the actual events of Eppolito releasing the book Mafia Cop: The Story of an Honest Cop Whose Family Was the Mob and receiving roles in big Hollywood movies like Goodfellas and Predator 2. This is where the story differentiates itself from others, as Bennetti’s brashness and boldness elevate to dangerous levels. He tempts fate and puts himself at odds with Canzano, who believes his partner might be flying too close to the Sun.

In fact, it’s this third act that should have been the whole movie. Sure, context would need to be laid out about who, what, when, why, and how, but if the backstory had been condensed into a single act then the rest of the film could have focused on this engrossing and wild period of Canzano and Bennetti’s life. It’s almost too bonkers to be true, but it is.

While David Arquette is the biggest actor and first name on the poster, Jeremy Luke and Joseph Russo outshine him in Mob Cops. Luke’s Bennetti is such a piece of work that you root for his downfall, but you still want to see more of him on screen because he’s that compelling. Luke is simply so good at being bad. Similarly, Russo turns up the intensity as Galiano. He possesses the greatest one-liners in the film, and he convinces as the wild-eyed mob boss who gets irked by the slightest inconvenience. Cast Russo in everything – please and thank you, Hollywood.

For the most part, Mob Cops is a by-the-numbers affair, with a third act that’s better than the rest of a movie that plays out like the greatest hits of every crime drama. That said, there are worse ways to pass the time – like watching Netflix’s brain-numbing Electric State.

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