In Providence's Italian neighborhood, Federal Hill, five young are immersed in drugs, crime and violence. Everything changes when one of the guys in the band know love.
There is nothing terribly different or exciting about what he shows us; the film is gripping in a conventional, formulaic way.
– Peter Rainer,
Los Angeles Times,
13 Feb 2001
fresh:
Federal Hill has sincerity on its side and a fair degree of authenticity.
– Mick LaSalle,
San Francisco Chronicle,
18 Jun 2002
fresh:
Federal Hill is lively and likable, a first film with the kind of swift action, clever dialogue and clear-cut characters that suggest an expert director's touch.
– Caryn James,
New York Times,
20 May 2003
fresh:
Producer-director-scripter Michael Corrente manages to bring freshness to basically derivative material in Federal Hill, thanks to a number of excellent performances and some evocative black-and-white images of a world he knows intimately.
– David Stratton,
Variety,
28 Sep 2007
fresh:
Corrente's handling of class divisions (one of the heroes starts seeing a Brown University senior he sells cocaine to) and the body language of the performances keep things fresh.