Tom Dooley Thomas idolizes the Mob and especially 'the Teflon Don' – John Gotti, seeing him as a modern day Robin Hood and the incidental crimes as sort of a necessary evil – sort of thing. Anyway we join them in 1992 when Gotti is on trial and the Teflon becomes 'Velcro' as all the charges start to stick.Now Thomas is going out with a girl of questionable intellect and indeed taste who is brilliantly played by Patricia Arquette. Desperate to become part of the Gangsta scene Thomas hatches a plan to free his idol but in so doing he sets off a chain of events that he will become useless to control.So is it any good? Well it is very watchable but sometimes feels very small in that it is a very personal tale about – essentially- two people and how they believe their own bull. Whilst this does not detract from the entertainment it also leave unmolested the underlying issues of worshipping the worst in society. That said it is still a well made and acted film that will appeal to any who like mob lore but it is not in the same league as the 'Goodfelllas' of this world.

pksky1 This is based on a true story. One might wonder how it ever found its way into a movie script, but we are lucky it did. It is a very scary story. It reminds me in many ways of Taxi Driver, about a man driven by obsession into violence. It is the same sort of setting. But the character is not repulsed by crime, he is obsessed with it and the glamor it represents in his deluded mind.He finds a woman to share and advance his fantasies. His closeness to the environment of real organized crime, including being a failed gangster himself speeds his descent into criminality. Unlike Travis in Taxi Driver whose source of mental instability is never really explained, drugs play a major role in the behavior of the Wannabe.Is all of organized crime fueled by the same delusions? Not in this movie, the Wannabe is a pest to organized crime, to be stomped out. Nobody is impressed by his quest for recognition and reputation.

The Couchpotatoes Even though the actors in The Wannabe are better known then in another movie Rob the Mob this one isn't better then Rob the Mob. Both movies are based on the same true story so you would think the facts are about the same, but it wasn't really. I found that strange. Why would the facts not be the same if it's based on a true story? Anyways, I scored Rob the Mob a seven star rating, and because I think that movie was way better then The Wannabe I score this one only a 6 star rating. It's not that it's not worth a watch but if you have the choice then I would watch Rob the Mob instead. The Wannabe is much slower and not that interesting. Well that's what I think about it.

subxerogravity It does not get more blue collar than The Wannabe, a no trills mob movie about a Mob geeks obsession with the John Gotti trails of the early 90s. Vincent Piazza plays the mob geek, Thomas. his performance in the movie was pretty well done. His psychotic nature just kept escalating as the movie progressed which made him entertaining to focus on.Also like the performance of Patricia Arquette, who played Thomas' equally touched girlfriend, Rose. I felt a certain dignity to her performance that made you feel sorry for Rose instead of sad.Overall the movie was a very disturbing tale of Thomas and Rose, a weird version of Bonnie and Clyde, in a movie that feels like a low rate version of Taxi Driver. A decent indi film to look at.