Casino (1995)

“Back home, they would have put me in jail for what I’m doing. Here, they’re giving me awards.” – Ace Rothstein

Number of Times Seen – 2 (on DVD sometime after it came out and 11 April 2013)

Brief Synopsis – The story of how the mafia took over Las Vegas in the 70’s

My Take on it – Martin Scorsese is a great director, but unfortunately this movie feels too long and drawn out. It has many similarities to Scorsese’s previous mafia movie Goodfellas (1990) (including DeNiro and Pesci) and all in all, Goodfellas was more entertaining.  Halfway thru the movie I didn’t care which characters would live or die, I just wanted the agony to end. One of things I appreciated in this movie was how Scorsese decided to use comic actors in serious parts (Alan King, Kevin Pollack and one of the greatest comic actors of all, Don Rickles). Every time he was on screen, I was waiting for him to insult DeNiro or Pesci and get his head kicked in, but nope, he stayed in character the whole time. Sometimes, comic actors are best when they do straight drama. A good example of that is Robin Williams.

Sharon Stone was the only Oscar nomination for this film. Her character was complex but not likable and I constantly wanted to ask myself why everyone wanted her.

I was majorly disappointed and I suggest that instead of seeing this, see one of the first two Godfather movies or Goodfellas instead

Bottom Line – There are plenty of better Mafia movies out there. Go see them before you waste 3 hours on this one.

Rating – BAFTA Worthy (6/10)