Viva Las Vegas

Rating: Null/10 (9 October 1999)

I bought this one, not sure if I would like it or not. The cast, crew and reviews were all top notch; having not seen Goodfellas I basically came into this as a bit of a newbie....
Here's what I think:
Love the acting, esp. DeNiro and Pesci, though they've both done this same thing before, and better. The narrative, the camera work, first 45 mins of this are great, and if that could have been sustained for the entire film, this could have won the Oscar.
Instead it desolves into a Vegas based Godfather knock off.
Now, I don't mind some film violence; and expected it big time with these guys. But WHY the baseball bats in the cornfield? Why the Pesci Vice bit? Did we have to see the old gal get shot 3 times in the head up close like that?
I think one of those scenes was enough; but having all three...overkill. There's some terrific supporting jobs here: Don Rickles, Alan King, Sharon Stone turns in one too. James Woods was fine. But when you get to the end, all you can remember is 'Batter up!' And that isn't right. Just too jarring at times.
I would give this one *** outta ****, it was very good but ought to have been a classic.