Damn cool movie

Rating: 10/10 (14 July 2002)

Once again Martin Scorsese, Nicholas Pileggi, Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci unite for another epic mob movie, based on a true story. Casino tells the story of Sam Rothstein, who is put in charge of a mob controlled casino. Joe Pesci plays his friend, Nicky Santoro, from back home years ago who comes out to A) Protect Sam and the casino and B) make some cash for himself. He does just that. Along the way, Sam begins a relationship with Ginger, a hustler at the casino played by Sharon Stone. It tells the story of how the mob controlled casinos, and how people like these helped mess it up. From the opening scenes, one can see that Scorsese is following the Goodfellas format of flashback/voiceover work, but this benefits the movie. DeNiro and Pesci are on top form again, as is Sharon Stone surprisingly. Over all, a very well written, acted and directed film, the only drawback being it's length. Word of warning, this film is very violent at times. You would have heard of the vice scene by now as it helped garner this film some notorority, but it isn't the only one. If you can handle the violence and language, then this is a very rewarding film experience.
Best scene: DeNiro busts some yokels trying to cheat at the casino, and proves that a hammer and a kind word work better than just a kind word.