Wise Guy: David Chase And The Sopranos

Matt Roush says...

Marking the 25th anniversary of a landmark series that helped put HBO on the map while also creating a new sort of anti-hero in suburban mob boss Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), director Alex Gibney’s fascinating two-part (in one night) documentary Wise Guy also takes a deep dive into the psyche of series creator David Chase. His upbringing in New Jersey, and his fraught relationship with his mother, inspired the groundbreaking drama, and Gibney delights in getting Chase to open up on a set recreating Dr. Melfi’s (Lorraine Bracco) psychiatrist’s office. With home movies, outtakes, audition reels and new and archival interviews with cast members and crew, the film is a wonderful celebration of a peerless series, with a remarkably candid Chase commenting on everything from casting and tone (“I really don’t know whether it was a drama or a comedy”) to the painful decision to kill off characters and, inevitably, the controversial cut-to-black ending that fans still debate today.

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