Builders and Losers of Tinsel Town

Rating: 9/10 (30 November 1999)

What if you had all your wishes come true and then lost everything? Casino winds its way through a rags to riches to rags story better than any movie I have seen. It is a dream becoming a nightmare.
In some ways Casino is better than Goodfellas and in others it is similar. This similarity could be seen as a drawback but for me Casino is the sequel to Goodfellas. Both are based on true stories about the mob written by Nicholas Pileggi and are an achievement that can only be compared in quality to The Godfather 1 and 2.
The magnificent opening of Casino shows Martin Scorsese using a more grand style. The wide open vistas of the desert are contrasted with the neon world of the gambler and the old neighborhood of the mob bosses. Robert De Niro is very effective in being the "rational" one who pleads that if everybody just follows the "rules" they would all be winners. His irrational equal (including in acting ability) is Sharon Stone who will not be tamed and helps to bring the whole house of cards down. In the Godfather films and in Goodfellas there are winners as well as losers. Casino is about losing it all.
I felt Pesci's limitations were shown in the "romantic" scenes between him and Stone. Still, I can't think of anyone else who can do a better job playing a ruthless thug. And this drawback was more than made up by the excellent James Woods as the slimy boyfriend. Great stuff.

Casino juggles success, corruption, vicious violence and farce in a broad sweep that never fails to impress. It's tale of destruction in some ways leads to sympathy. For these characters are like children who can never learn. They can never see the cause of their downfall, themselves.