Bloated, but there's some good mob stuff here

Rating: 6/10 (28 April 2015)

It's not "Goodfellas", but there are stretches when "Casino" is pretty great. That back-and-forth narration between De Niro and Pesci is a brilliant narrative trick and plays like a guided tour through this lavish empire the mob has carved out in Las Vegas (this, in spite of the town's gaudy trappings). Seductive, to say the least.
It's in the second half that the narration vanishes and the movie starts to overstay its welcome. This criminal enterprising dream can't last forever, and when things start to come crashing down, they do so viciously (don't ever tell Scorsese he's timid on his violence). It's mostly when the '70s give way to the '80s and Sharon Stone's drama takes center stage that things become sour. "Boogie Nights" sprang to mind around this time, although that was a much more satisfying story.
6/10