Once in a blue moon there’s a prince charming of a film that comes along and sweeps critics off their feet. It receives four stars across the board and doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all. Then you go check out the hype for yourself, and well, it’s just not that good. This is the case with “Gomorrah,” a film with five intertwining stories, all connecting themselves to the Camorra crime family.

This will not be a traditional review. I’m not going to talk about the individual characters and their stories. Instead, I’m going to give you my personal opinion about the film. The film opens and the title shows up in a bold, pink font as music that sounds as if it’s from the ’80s begins to play. It is very reminiscent of “Scarface,” the Brian De Palma cult classic. It was a sort of omen for me, seeing how I am not a fan of “Scarface.”

Then the boredom begins. In a sort of documentary style, we are introduced to a handful of characters. The camera follows them around as they go about their daily routines that in some cases consist of delivering groceries around the neighborhood, paying off the little people who keep their mouths shut, and running around, high on drugs, robbing drug dealers and other criminals.

The problem with these stories is their content, or lack thereof. As the minutes pass and the stories drag on, we learn nothing of value. The characters do not allow us to connect to them in anyway, and they certainly don’t give us the opportunity to feel pity for them or hate them. These are all essential parts to understanding a film.

There’s also the lack of violence. Being a realistic and gritty mob film, you would expect a substantial amount of blood pouring in the streets, however, I’ve seen more violence on prime-time television.

The last flaw in this disaster of a film is the screenplay. Not one single word written for the screen allows you to really learn about the Camorra crime family. It is merely uninteresting conversations between a number of people.

I will give a little credit to directer Matteo Garrone. He brought a great style to the film and included some great shots while doing so. Unfortunately, it just was not enough to salvage the rest.

I know I sound very bitter or maybe even malicious in describing “Gomorrah,” but I assure you it’s true. I honestly can not understand what critics were thinking when they wrote such distinguished reviews for this film. I recommend this movie to no one, except maybe all you insomniacs out there. It will put you right to sleep.