You probably already know half the script to this movie

Rating: 9/10 (26 April 2012)

"Here's looking at you, kid." "I'm shocked, shocked, to find that gambling is going on in this establishment." "Of all the gin joints in the world, you had to walk into mine." "If that plane leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life. " "I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." "Play it again, Sam."
Casablanca has taken such an elevated place in pop culture, its images and quotes (like the ones above) seeped into so many TV shows and movies to follow it, that when you actually get around to watching it it can seem a little underwhelming. Bogart and Bergman are Bogart and Bergman of course, and can charm the pants off anyone living or dead, but there's a lot of melodrama and a distinctly saggy middle. By the halfway point you might even be ready to write this off as one of those films that's important but not necessarily a great watch for a modern audience.
And then comes in the third act, a powerful and blisteringly-paced series of climaxes, and all of your earlier skepticism was wiped away and you're rooting wholeheartedly for Rick and Ilsa and their doomed romance. Or at least I was. What sets Casablanca apart from so many of its contemporaries is its ambiguous morality -- not the universal cynicism of most noir movies but a mature perspective that can see good in evil as well as vice versa. Most importantly, it juxtaposes what we want as viewers and what's actually the right thing to do in a way few movies do.
In short, even if you've received most of the plot and scenes through cultural osmosis, Casablanca is still worth watching, if only for that heart-wrenching climax.