Very Good, not great

Rating: 8/10 (20 September 1999)

Taken alone, this was an excellent movie, very watchable, if a bit long. However, a lot of this movie obviously plays very close to what some of the people involved in it have played before. De Niro's character is eerily similar to Al Pacino's in "The Godfather II", and Joe Pesci could easily be playing himself in "Goodfellas". This is another solid effort from Scorcese and crew, but it lacks originality.
There were some interesting points. Sharon Stone was excellent, but once again, she seems to remind me of Talia Shire's Connie in "The Godfather". The same could be said of James Woods, who plays a Fredo-like scumbag (maybe Fredo wasn't that bad, but still....). To top it all off, we've got De Niro AND Pesci doing Ray Liotta's over-voice shtick from "Goodfellas".
All in all, I would recommend this movie, but I'd also recommend you see the other movies I've mentioned here first. The acting here is good, the plot isn't lacking, the only negative side is that it does get a little violent. All the same, if you're familiar with Scorcese's work, at times you feel like this movie is basically Henry Hill narrating the Corleone family history. It's hard to see this group be so good without quite reaching the greatness they've achieved in the past.