Kings of South Beach is a made-for-TV movie that is based on the true story of Chris Troiano (Jason Gedrick), a Miami club owner who basically turned South Beach from a quiet area to one of the country's party hot spots, and Andy Burnett (Donnie Walhberg), a thug from New York who acts as Chris' right-hand man. Chris' sudden rise to superstar status is enough to get the attention of the police, which is right where the movie picks up. This ends up being a major issue later on since there really isn't any substantial history set up for either of the characters. It isn't until the second half of the movie that the backstory kicks in, leading to story issues that seem to come out of nowhere.
Pacing is another problem Kings of South Beach contends with. The entire first half of the movie is wasted showing the "perks" of Chris and Andy's lifestyle while also making sure you know the movie takes place in the 90's. There are even a handful of completely random scenes that have nothing to with the story, but are just thrown in to establish the setting. Again, things really don't get interesting until the second half, at which point the direction is so lost that some viewers probably won't care that much about what's going on.
The chemistry and relatively solid acting of both Jason Gedrick and Donnie Walhberg are the movie's two biggest surprises. Not to say that both do amazing jobs, but when compared to other on-screen duos, the pairing works well. Even some of the more awkwardly-worded scenes are held together because of the two actors. The rest of the cast is inconsequential and really don't matter to the overall story.
What is ultimately disappointing about Kings of South Beach is that it is really easy to see how much potential the story has. Kings of South Beach probably would have worked better as a big budget movie rather than a made-for-TV movie.
