Justifiably popular, but "great"?

Rating: Null/10 (4 August 2000)

I think this film is a sentimental favorite with audiences because it's just a really good party: a beautifully photographed assemblage of fascinating people in a glamorous setting. It's fun to spend two hours in Casablanca with Rick and Sam and Ilsa and all their far-flung friends. But when you come down to it it's not much of a story; whether it doesn't make logical sense or is just too boring to follow is something I've never decided, and lines like "Play it, Sam" and "I stick my neck out for no one" are famous because of who said them in a gorgeous white linen jacket, not what's being said. Like "Dracula" or "Titanic," it's appealing as entertainment. But to label it "great" is to give this little fluffy war romance more weight than it was ever meant to bear.