have watched it only 1,857 times

Rating: 8/10 (3 November 2014)

amazingly absorbing and detailed, bringing us...DRAGGING US BACK to the 1970s when Vegas was Vegas. (thankfully, no Elvis imitators can be found here). goes without saying, the script, the acting, all the essentials are "done to a tee", as Pesci says when referring to how he gets his assignments done.
obvious comparison with GOODFELLAS....lead is conflicted but macho and the wife/love interest, is also confused but does not get enough frame time! sorry, my fellow & sister fanatics. Sharon Stone won a Golden Globe but really did not get the attention she *or* the character deserved. we see more DeNiro's legs than hers.
another issue is that the two leads are somewhat schizophrenic to the point we wonder if there was not enough story conferences before the shoot. in CASINO, Henry Hill is the shall we say reluctant accessory to murder, a guy with a good heart. DeNiro here is a Jewish guy, schooled in 1950s hoodlumism, but his "Jewishness" is confined unfortunately to the stereotype who lets others fight for him and is actually worried that his best fiend Pesci won't stop filandering with his wife. "what if he doesn't stop?" he whispers to Stone, in a very bizarre scene.
Stone's character is also a mite mixed-up: she can work the system down to carpet fibers in the lounge, is a lying thief like all her friends and clients, but is initially shy on the idea of marrying a multi millionaire who can secure her future 500 times over? think I'll toss my VHS in, one more time, you know, just to review.........................