Scorsese on Scorsese

Rating: 8/10 (6 December 2006)

"Casino" explodes onto the screen like Martin Scorsese doing an overblown riff of a Martin Scorsese film. All of his hallmarks are here in spades as he weaves his epic and vividly detailed saga of organized crime in Las Vegas. Much of the style here is over-the-top, and when you combine that with three brand-name movie stars (DeNiro almost hilariously subdued here, Sharon Stone at the pinnacle of her appeal and showing an amazing range here as DeNiro's gold digging drug addicted wife, and an insane Joe Pesci doing a gonzo take on an insane Joe Pesci) acting to within inches of their lives, you get a wildly entertaining albeit over long three hour ride. Toss in some scenery chewing from Don Rickles, James Woods, and that hilarious Italian grandmother (Scorsese's real life mother) in the butcher shop, and you can't lose. However, when the central conceit of the movie is to explore the criminal underbelly of a city that legally peddles crime and sleaze as entertainment, "Casino" ultimately seems a bit redundant.