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American Gangster
American Gangster Image
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Metascore
76 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 38 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 221 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Starring: Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe
  • Summary: Nobody used to notice Frank Lucas, the quiet driver for one of the inner city's leading black crime bosses. But when his boss suddenly dies, Frank exploits the opening in the power structure to build his own empire and create his own version of the American Dream. Through ingenuity and a strict business ethic, he comes to rule the inner-city drug trade and floods the streets with a purer product at a better price. Lucas outplays all of the leading crime syndicates and becomes not only one of the city's mainline corrupters, but part of its circle of legit civic superstars. Richie Roberts is an outcast cop close enough to the streets to feel a shift of control in the drug underworld. Roberts believes someone is climbing the rungs above the known Mafia families and starts to suspect that a black power player has come from nowhere to dominate the scene. Both Lucas and Roberts share a rigorous ethical code that sets them apart from their own colleagues, which makes them lone figures on opposite sides of the law. The destinies of these two men will become intertwined as they approach a confrontation in which only one of them can come out on top. (Universal)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 38
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 38
  3. Negative: 0 out of 38
  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    This is an engrossing story, told smoothly and well, and Russell Crowe's contribution is enormous.
  2. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    100
    Denzel Washington dazzles in his best screen performance to date as Frank Lucas.
  3. Empire
    Reviewed by: Ian Freer
    60
    An entertaining romp through familiar cop-and-crim cat-and-mousery, bolstered by strong star turns from Washington and Crowe. Still, it has neither the intelligence nor the grip to jump from the merely good to the truly great.

See all 38 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 82 out of 109
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 109
  3. Negative: 12 out of 109
  1. Treblotski
    6
    The actors do all the work here to make this thing a movie, art director helps a little with the others. A believable movie.
    • 2 of 2 users said yes
  2. JackB.
    5
    This film is completely watchable, and not boring. But given that you had a formerly great director (Ridley Scott) working with a truly great actor (Denzel Washington) on a story with real potential for depth, it was amazingly flat. No real development of Denzel's character, despite some interesting possibilities (he'd just gotten back from Vietnam in 1968! And he came back to Harlem in the middle of one of its most vibrant and, yes, messed up periods!) You never even get a feeling you're IN Harlem here. Really a surprising failure of a movie.… Expand
    • 0 of 0 users said yes
  3. NM
    2
    Very boring.
    • 0 of 0 users said yes

See all 109 User Reviews

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