Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 17, 2011

Mostly strong, that is, with the major exception of Tom Guiry's portrayal of Joe Jr. Painfully broad, Guiry practically sinks the film with garishly slack-jawed and over-the-top manchildishness.

| Aug 8, 2009

As Janice, Christine Lahti is the pivot between father and son. The scenes between Janice and Joe Jr. are sweet, harrowing, movie-altering.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 16, 2009

Yonkers Joe is incoherent, succeeding neither as an exciting gambling ride nor a touching family story.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Jan 16, 2009

Yonkers Joe is like a so-so trip to Vegas, one where you lose as much as you gain gambling. In other words, it's not the trip you're most likely to tell your friends about.

| Jan 13, 2009

An extremely awkward cross between Ocean's Eleven and Rain Man.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 9, 2009

[Director] Celestino steers clear of the can't-miss pulp thriller that Yonkers Joe could've been, and goes for broke by giving it big dollop of schmaltz. His horse doesn't come in, but it runs a respectable race.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Jan 9, 2009

For all its attention to detail, Yonkers Joe isn't half as tough as it pretends to be. The real story of these bottom-feeders and the sad young man they exploit is a lot uglier than the movie even begins to let on.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Jan 9, 2009

Lahti burns through a thinly written role with a surprising level of warmth and humanity, and Guiry is at times repellently convincing as a kid genetically incapable of either nuance or fakery.

| Jan 7, 2009

Yonkers Joe confirms that writer-director Robert Celestin knows his way around a local cash-stakes game of craps. It also proves, unfortunately, that his scripting skills need substantial honing.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 5, 2009