New York was tough back when Frank Sinatra famously sang, "If I can make it there, I'll make it anywhere." But man, how things have changed. It's doubtful Old Blue Eyes dreamed of anything close to the nightmarish mean streets laid bare in Brooklyn's Finest. Antoine Fuqua, who helmed the similarly gritty but distinctly West Coast cop story Training Day, slinks into the nasty crevices of New York's congested melting pot of a borough to see what fuels its fire. His larger story finds room for multiple, smaller plots pertaining to men serving in the NYPD, though each leads down a path of redemption and deals with the slippery slope of compromise. Some of the men have real problems. Sal (Ethan Hawke) can't provide for his family on an officer's salary -- the wood mold in the walls of his cramped Brooklyn abode are triggering his pregnant wife's already debilitating asthma -- so he contemplates stealing drug money during his routine busts. And Tango (Don Cheadle), an undercover cop infiltrating the inner circle of reputed drug boss Caz (Wesley Snipes), has been buried behind enemy lines for so long he no longer remembers which side he's fighting for or why. Other characters, however, have "movie" problems. Richard Gere plays Eddie, an alcoholic and suicidal veteran who's on the verge of retirement but has to mentor a wet-behind-the-ears rookie before he can punch out. This is meat-and-potatoes filmmaking, though. There's plenty of substance, but not enough flavor. Newcomer Michael C. Martin bolsters his screenplay with generic pearls of police officer wisdom, which the marvelous cast uses as kindling to ignite their passionately original renditions of stock cop characters. Cheadle, Hawke, Gere, Snipes, and an unheralded Brian F. O'Byrne do everything they can to make Brooklyn's Finest their own. Too often, however, it resembles someone else's work. A drug bust -- and subsequent street chase -- recalls We Own the Night, followed by The French Connection. Cheadle's claustrophobic predicament calls to mind the superior Donnie Brasco. The Brooklyn setting casts its dark shadow over Finest. By the end, you'll feel like you spent two hours scuba diving in a cesspool. That likely doesn't fly with the borough's tourism board, but it might work well for you.