Title: Zarra’s Law
Arc Entertainment
Director: Juha Wuolijoki
Writers: Joseph Scarpinito and Charles Kipps
Cast: Brendan Fehr, Erin Cummings, Nick Sandow, Tony Sirico, Burt Young
Running Time: 79 min, Rated R (language and violence)
Special Features: Trailer
Available January 13, 2015

Based on a True Story boasts the theatrical trailer. It’s the story of Tony Zarra(Tony Sirico), a retired cop who is mourning the death of his brother two years later.  His lawyer nephew Gaetano (Brendan Fehr) comes to town to visit is uncle and grandma (Renee Taylor) and is shocked by Tony to hear that his father’s alleged killer is getting out of prison after only two years.  He promises his uncle Tony that they will look into why their loved ones murderer is getting released and finally find the truth of the crime.  In the meantime, Gaetano takes a pro-bono case involving a domestic abuse victim against her husband, Frankie Andreoli (Brian Tarantina) who took over as the head tough guy. At the local Italian eatery that Frankie frequents, Gaetano attracts bartender Crystal (Erin Cummings), with a little secret of her own.

The Good: Not too violent, easy story to follow. Some likeable characters.

The Bad: Slow and predictable.  I knew who offed his brother within the first 10 minutes of the film.  The trailer says this is a true story, but it’s really not that interesting a story.  People in the mob get killed all the time. The bad guys get caught, nobody dies, it’s kind of boring. They could’ve adapted this into a TV show if they were so inclined. Turn Tony into a vigilante P.I. and his nephew is the good-guy but tough lawyer; it writes itself. The Italian persona the actors are portraying are so overly campy. There’s a turf war in the neighborhood and it’s the Guidos versus the Pisanos. When the family gets together, Grandma’s making half the menu from the Olive Garden for three people. C’mon really?

The people who worked on the trailer for Zarra’s Law did an excellent job at making the film look more exciting than reality. The DVD cover as well looked violent and badass. If you’re visiting your grandparents or parents that are a little bit squeamish when it comes to language and violence, it’s basically a family friendly edit of [insert mafia movie/show here]. There’s some punches thrown and a couple of extra F bombs to bypass the PG13 rating, but I don’t remember any blood at all.  It’s like as if Disney made a crime thriller.

Acting: B
Story: C
Technical: C
Total Rating: C+
Reviewed by: JM Willis