The turning point in "American Gangster" for Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) will be obvious to just about anyone paying attention and it signifies the major weakness in this "Black Godfather" film. That scene occurs when Frank's wife (Lymari Nadal) gives Franky a gaudy fur coat. Frank then wears the coat to the Ali-Frazier fight and that's when Detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) realizes that Frank is somebody to watch.

Up until that point, Frank is incredibly careful not to draw attention to himself. He remains in the background and every time somebody in his crew or one of his family makes a show, he slaps them around. However, the one time he puts on a fur coat and acts like the big shot he is, a cop spots him and it leads to his eventual downfall.

That sort of simplicity is what makes "American Gangster" less than it should be. Director Ridley Scott announces the whole mistake like the title fight where the scene takes place. It's not gradual. It's sudden and it's obvious and it's unnecessary.

The other major problem with "American Gangster" is that Scott clearly has an affinity for Lucas and there's not much differentiation between bad guys and good guys in the film. We're apparently all just part of the same world and the variations in our moral code just fail in different ways. Richie's fails in his relationship to his harpy wife, Laurie (Carla Gugino), since Richie seems to fuck everything that moves and doesn't have much time for his kid. Frank's fails because he doesn't care that the drugs he sells ruin lives. It's the business that's important to him. Perhaps the most despised character in the whole film is Detective Trupo (Josh Brolin), the corrupt New York cop who seems to represent cops in general, and who may be an apt representation since 75% of the NYPD Drug division was convicted on Frank Lucas's testimony.

In the world of "American Gangster" there's just one big cess pool and we're all part of it. There's no black and no white, just a whole bunch of gray. Normally, I might think that was interesting. Here, it just seems like a cliché.