Great Film Spoiled By Terrible Accents

Rating: Null/10 (16 September 2004)

What could have been the best film since the turn of the century has been spoiled by the worst of the worst attempts by American actors to imitate the Irish accent. Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, John C. Reilly, Cara Seymour and Stephen Graham bring new meaning to the 'stage-Irish' clichÃ©(actually the first two hardly bothered changing their accents). And Gary Lewis is just laughable as an Irish traitor with a thick-as-porridge Scottish accent.Henry Thomas is the only actor who would get away with it, but it wasn't great all the same. Most of the minor Irish characters are either Scottish or from Liverpool(especially those who were hanged). How could a great director like Martin Scorcese mistake an Irish accent for a Scottish accent?
However, Daniel Day-Lewis is fantastic as the sadistic, immigrant-hating Bill the Butcher, completely overshadowing the miscast stars. Brendan Gleeson and Liam Neeson also delivered fine performances. It could have been so much better; the street battles are fantastic, the music is excellent and the general atmosphere is compelling, it's just a pity about the accents.