Product Details

• Actors: Denis Leary, Ian Hart, Jason Barry, Lenny Clarke, Kevin Chapman
• Directors: Ted Demme
• Writers: Denis Leary, Mike Armstrong
• Producers: Adam Doench, Elie Samaha, Jim Serpico, Joel Stillerman, Mark Hankey
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Walt Disney Video
• VHS Release Date: July 18, 2000
• Run Time: 93 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305306176
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #238,910 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

Director Ted Demme and screenwriter Mike Armstrong have come up with a skillful, hard-hitting gangster tale involving Irish hoodlums in Boston's blue-collar neighborhood of Charlestown. Denis Leary plays a heavy-drinking small-time thief, and the crew of actors he's surrounded by (Colm Meaney, Ian Hart, Billy Crudup, and Famke Janssen, among others) never strike a false note-their working-class desperation is entirely believable. But it's Leary who's the real surprise here; his sincere, tough-guy performance is mesmerizing. He lifts the film above its familiar, claustrophobic environment into the gritty realism of very good urban drama. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Great Gangster Movie Performances, February 4, 2003

By 

Tony Mastrogiorgio (Pleasant Hill, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Monument Ave. (DVD)

This is an unjustly neglected film. Director Ted Demme died far too young, leaving behind a solid list of films that suggested great possiblities from the mature filmmaker we will never get to see. One of the significant things about his work is that he is the only person who really understood how to use Dennis Leary. In a word, Leary is great here. His conflicted emotions about escaping the narrow confines of his violent world and the actions he takes that only ensure his failure power a character that rivals Micheal Corleone (without the operatic granduer) or John Garfield in Force of Evil. The harsh locations, the sub-culture within a subculture, the suddenness of the violence, the twadriness of the criminal enterprise are all vividly captured in a film justly called "the Irish Mean Streets".

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An underrated gem that should've gotten more notice, April 24, 2000

By 

"mystic80" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Monument Ave. (DVD)

Monument Ave. is probably one of the best films I have ever seen. Instead of the Hollywood happy ending, we have a dark and grim tale of family morals and the loyalty between being a stand up guy and a family man. Denis Leary proves he doesn't always have to play piss and moan roles and he's at his best as the reluctant Bobby. The cast is excellent with Colm Meaney as a remorseless crime boss, Ian Hart as Bobby's energetic friend, Famke Janssen as Bobby's girlfriend, and the rest of the cast are in top form. Director Ted Demme manages to get down to the bare nub of the script with the Boston accents and attitudes. This film definitely should've gotten more notice. Grade: A-

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Denis Leary shines!, June 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Monument Ave. (DVD)

This movie is one of these small gems that manage to slip by everybody in the theatres. But fortunately, it's now available on DVD and for rental. Monument Ave. is pretty cliched in terms of it's story line about a criminal who must choose between his loyalty to his friends or that of his boss. However, the true ingenuity of the film is the dialogue. It flows off the screen in a current of truth and harsh realities that rivals that of Tarantino. Listen to it carefully. The performances are very good, especially that of Denis Leary. The way he balances comedy, which is his forte, and drama is very good. I was truly impressed with this breakout performance by him and hope to see him in more dramatic roles. Colm Meany, who plays the Irish crime boss is equally effective as a character who will be your best friend and stab you in the back at the same time. This film was directed by Ted Demme, yonger brother of Jonathan Demme, the dude that directed the Silence of the Lambs. With this film, Ted Demme again proves that he is a distinct talent, seperate from his brother.