Slumming

Rating: 4/10 (5 March 2004)

Martin Scorsese's big, confused, drab and ultimately empty slice of American history seems to be yet another attempt by the director to show how violent and ruthless men are and how corrupt the American dream is.

Played out on a giant, rambling set showing lower Manhattan during the Civil War (and filmed, ironically enough in Italy), Scorsese once again reduces human intercourse to the level of gang warfare, vengeance, power plays and simple greed. Heaven forbid he show any aspect of the American landscape that would hint at anything but the basest of motives.

The story, consisting on the most cliched elements of a love triangle and a trite revenge melodrama, serves as the backdrop for Scorsese's depiction of the most squalid aspects of life in New York City; and from that aspect, the film is a set designers dream. The seedy look of the film is admirable. But as an examination of America as the great melting pot, his old immigrant vs. new immigrant saga comes off as simplistic, at best.
Plus the long-winded and convoluted narrative is populated with one-dimensional characters, not the least of which are those played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz. Though widely praised, the performance of Daniel Day-Lewis, as the films oversized villain, is stiff, flat and unconvincing.
This wannabe epic was desperately in need of a couple more rewrites before filming should have commenced in order to give it a compelling story, any strong characters or a real reason to exist in the first place.