Mediocrity à la Marty Scorsese

Rating: 6/10 (9 October 2004)

If you are a discriminating movie buff and want to see Martin Scorsese at his most inspired, most enthralling, most engrossing, and most enrapturing, forget CASINO. Watch GOODFELLAS instead.
CASINO pales in comparison in every respect. And while its characters and their interpersonal relationships are poorly developed, CASINO drags on and on for 3 hours and 2 minutes.
Aesthetically, stylistically, in terms of many of the cast and crew, etc., CASINO looks too much like GOODFELLAS, leaving people to think that they've experienced déjà vu. The most glaring example of this is Joe Pesci, who basically reprises--and even parodies--his role from GOODFELLAS.
Furthermore, the narration in CASINO is excessive while the depictions of violence are often gratuitous and stylistically weak.
So rest assured that GOODFELLAS is the masterpiece. CASINO is the travesty and discriminating viewers should stay away.