No-so-good fellas: Freddie Prinze Jr., Jerry Ferrara and Scott Caan, above, get local with director Michael Corrente in the new film “Brooklyn Rules” which finds them playing Brooklyn boys who get caught up in the mob.

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Rule number one: When a movie is called “Brooklyn Rules,” it should be playing at movie theaters in Brooklyn.

Director Michael Corrente’s new movie violates that one (it’s currently only playing at just two theaters in Manhattan).

Rule number two: When making a movie with Brooklyn in the title, don’t shoot it in Canada or some other unlikely locale.

At least Corrente got that one right.

“I can’t imagine filming this in Toronto,” Corrente told GO Brooklyn. “Talk about not having credibility. They would crucify us!”

Shot in King’s County and based on a script by Brooklyn-born, Emmy Award-winning “Sopranos” scribe Terence Winter, the movie is about three buddies who, don’t you know it, get caught up with the Mafia.

While ambitious Michael (Freddie Prinze Jr.) hits the books and charms pretty co-ed Ellen (Mena Suvari) at Columbia University, skirt-chaser Carmine (Scott Caan) stays in the neighborhood and works for hot-headed mobster Caesar (Alec Baldwin). Sweetheart Bobby (Bensonhurst’s Jerry Ferrara) plans a simple, stable life that includes his girlfriend and a job at the post office, but when one of the guys is unexpectedly killed, the other two begin questioning their choices.

Rehashing tired plotlines, no matter who’s doing it, is definitely against the rules. The film covers friendship, loyalty, the desire for a better life beyond the neighborhood and the temptation of a career in crime — all themes exhausted by other mob-oriented entertainment like the short-lived TV series “The Black Donnellys,” and the films “The Departed” and “Alpha Dog.” Unfortunately, “Brooklyn Rules” covers very little new ground, and, even though Corrente and his cast are game, it will probably have a better life on video than in theaters. Despite believable performances from the cast — some dialogue between the friends even rang true — it’s a shame there isn’t a more original story to structure the film around.

Corrente remained convinced, however, the movie will have a similar effect on moviegoers as the atmospheric Big Apple classics: “The Pope of Greenwich Village,” “A Bronx Tale” and “Good Fellas.”

Well, maybe not — the film almost never saw the light of day. “Frankly, nobody wanted the movie,” Corrente recalled, explaining how he fought for years to get the film a theatrical release. “Everybody wanted the DVD rights because there is no risk. That’s the state of affairs with where we are in independent filmmaking.”

The cast, which did a fine job, is also proud of the film, which suffered a number of delays including the loss of original director Griffin Dunne.

“[When I finally saw the film] at the Tribeca Film Festival, I realized I had never been proud of a movie before,” said Prinze, a former teen heartthrob, best known for his work in “Scooby Doo” and “She’s All That.”

“I finally got the kind of part I’ve wanted my whole life,” he said. “I like [characters] with more edge, but I’m realistic in the fact that I’m not going to get many opportunities to do that.”

Scott Cann, who played Baldwin’s lackey, doesn’t have Prinze’s image problem — he has a recurring role in the “Ocean’s 11” franchise.

“Filming in Brooklyn was great,” he said. “Michael knows the value of making a movie about somewhere and having it be in that town. … They were talking about shooting it in Canada and that was a huge turn-off.”

Angry, absent Alec

It was the voicemail heard ’round the world: actor Alec Baldwin — who didn’t show up to his “Brooklyn Rules” press junket — calling his 11-year-old daughter Ireland a “rude, thoughtless pig” when she missed a scheduled phone call.

But even though Baldwin was widely vilified, his “Brooklyn Rules” director and co-stars — all of whom have plenty of experience with bad parents — were eager to talk and lend support to their colleague.

“I think it’s hard enough to be a parent, and to have it be that public is just disgusting to me,” said co-star Freddie Prinze, Jr., the son of actor Freddie Prinze, who committed suicide in 1977, one year after “Junior” was born.

On the set, “[Baldwin] was nothing but a professional,” cooed Prinze. “I would work with that guy any day of the week and I would do anything he asked me to do.”

Prinze co-star Scott Caan — son of actor James Caan and Sheila Ryan, the second of his four ex-wives — also shrugged off Baldwin’s temper tantrum: “People make mistakes,” Caan told GO Brooklyn. “My father told me if I put my elbows on the table, he would stick a fork in my leg. You know what I mean? He never put the fork in my leg. It’s not easy being a parent.”

Director Michael Corrente chimed in with his own loving memory: “My father? Oh, my God! Are you kidding me? My father once said, ‘Michael, go ahead, hit your sister one more time and I will rip your arm off and beat you with the wet end. Now pass the salt.’”

We’d take Alec over that any day!

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper