We Own the Night (R) Grade: C+

here are some films that, after you see the trailer, you get giddy about its release and tell all your friends it's going to be excellent. Then when the film finally comes out, it completely blows. All the hopes and dreams you had for it are destroyed, and you're pissed. "We Own The Night" is one of those films.\nBobby Green (Joaquin Phoenix) is running a New York nightclub when he learns that an NYPD unit led by his brother Joseph (Mark Wahlberg) and father Burt (Robert Duvall) is looking into a drug ring in his club. After a tragic accident, Bobby decides to help out the department in its search for the dealer.\n"We Own The Night" is the slowest-moving film I've seen in a long time. Its running time is just more than two hours, but it feels like it lasts four. Numerous scenes seem to be thrown in for no apparent reason, including the excruciating scene at a church where we have to watch an entire police force's complete prayer. \nThe story line is legitimate, but it's pissed away in the final act because of ignorant plot leaps. Bobby has no police experience and is coked out of his mind for the first half of the film, but when it's time to get drug dealer Nezhinski (Alex Veadov), he's allowed to become a cop because "he has information" and as long as he promises he will go to the academy later. Oh, Bobby then gets to lead the SWAT team in its capture of Nezhinski.\nPhoenix is good as Bobby, but Duvall and Wahlberg are phoning in and don't have much to do. Eva Mendes' character, as usual, exists only as eye candy. \n"We Own The Night" is much like a bad episode of "NYPD Blue" or any other crime drama. The story moves entirely too slow, and whatever goodwill is built up through the first half is negated with an unbelievable final 30 minutes.