History YMMV / TheManySaintsOfNewark

* CriticalDissonance: Professional reviews gave the movie mixed-to-positive reception, but opinions from general audiences and fans were much more negative. On Website/RottenTomatoes, the critical consensus score is 71%, while the audience score is 59%, on Metacritic, the critical score is 60 versus the audience score of 49, and it only had a C+ grade from UsefulNotes/CinemaScore.

* ToughActToFollow: The original show remains one of the most acclaimed television dramas of all time, so a followup movie prequel released long after it ending was highly anticipated. However, most viewers agreed that the end product didn't live up to the high standards set by the show, with the major criticism that choosing a movie format hurt the story, as so many plot threads are set up that it spreads itself way too thin trying to cover so much in under two hours, leaving the plot disjointed, confusing, and meandering.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Another common complaint with the movie is that a lot of the plot threads don't get taken advantage of enough for a more compelling story due to having to go under the two-hour runtime.

* EvilIsSexy: Johnny Soprano being played by the handsome Creator/JonBernthal just oozes alpha male aura in this film.
** Dickie Moltisanti himself is also easy on the eyes for some viewers.

* FranchiseOriginalSin:
** Well, "sin" isn't really the right word. A lot of the criticisms of the film (especially those popularized by Michael Francese, a former mobster) involve its apparent demonization of the Italian Mafia and (according to Francese) Italian Americans in general. Anyone who has actually watched the entire series knows ''this was the whole point of the show''. All of the flaws with the Mafia (racism, domestic abuse, and sociopathy) present in the film were in the series as well. Francese himself has admitted that he has only watched a few episodes[[note]]Overall he thinks those episodes are a good reflection of the Mafia life, with the major exception of Dr. Melfi as Tony's psychiatrist, since going outside the Family to discuss Family business is a major no-no and would have realistically gotten Tony killed.[[/note]], so this may have been lost on him.
** Creator/JohnMagaro got a lot of flak for doing a poor impersonation of Silvio Dante. In fact, Silvio is just as much of a caricature in the original series as he is here, and Steven Van Zandt has always been a [[QuestionableCasting contentious casting choice]] because of his lack of a previous acting career.

** Creator/JohnMagaro got a lot of flak for doing a poor impersonation of Silvio Dante. In fact, Silvio is just as much of a caricature in the original series as he is here, and Steven Van Zandt has always been a contentious casting choice because of his lack of a previous acting career.

** Creator/JohnMagaro got a lot of flak for doing a poor impersonation of Silvio Dante. The problem is that Silvio is just as much of a caricature in the original series as he is here, and Steven Van Zandt has always been a contentious casting choice because of his lack of a previous acting career.

** Creator/JohnMagaro get a lot of flak for doing a poor impersonation of Silvio Dante. The problem is that Silvio is just as much of a caricature in the original series as he is here, and Steven Van Zandt has always been a contentious casting choice because of his lack of a previous acting career.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Well, "sin" isn't really the right word. A lot of the criticisms of the film (especially those popularized by Michael Francese, a former mobster) involve its apparent demonization of the Italian Mafia and (according to Francese) Italian Americans in general. Anyone who has actually watched the entire series knows ''this was the whole point of the show''. All of the flaws with the Mafia (racism, domestic abuse, and sociopathy) present in the film were in the series as well.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: The biggest complaint about the film is that it tries to pack a lot into its two hour runtime and that making it longer, or even extending it into a miniseries rather than a movie, would've given it more time to explore the various characters and plot threads in more detail.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: Another common complaint with the movie is that a lot of the plot threads don't get taken advantage of enough for a more compelling story due to having to go under the two hour runtime.

* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Creator/MichaelGandolfini absolutely nails the role of young Tony Soprano as he not only looks like a younger Tony, but he also uses many of the same mannerisms and vocal inflections that his father Creator/JamesGandolfini used when he played the role, making it completely believable that this is a younger version of the same character. Many watched the film to see him act as a young Tony and walked away satisfied, with some reviewers claiming that he'd exceeded their expectations and the cast praising James for his performance.

* GeniusBonus: Christopher's family name Moltisanti is Italian for "many saints." Hence, the film's title is actually "The Moltisantis of Newark."

* DancingBear: Though most overwhelmingly agreed that Michael Gandolfini did a fantastic job, the mere ''idea'' of him evoking his late father's character was what drew many fans in.