Utterly Guilty Pleasure, Like Cheesecake, Keep Away from Kids

Rating: 6/10 (12 December 2006)

First off, this is really a well made movie, with Martin Scorcese's bringing to life all the hoodlum midlifes and lowlifes he knows so well. The cast is A1, and includes all the usually suspects like Sorvino, Liotta, DENIRO, Pesci, and future Soprano's luminaries like Lorraine Bracco, Mike Imperioli, Tony Sirico, Vincent Pastore, as well as Eugene Levy and Sam Jackson. I mention SOPRANOS boldly cause this movie definitely is the template for the Sopranos and other revisionist mob comedy/dramas.
It chronicles the real life exploits of Henry Hill, a mobster who ratted out his pals in Queens and became a notorious witness protection screw up, then cashed on on his criminal/mob past with his books and this movie, So in all the murder, racketeering and mayhem he was an accomplice, though it is tempered by Liotta, with a great "nice bad guy" act. Paul Sorvino, as Pauli, is the template for all mob boss types, who shuffles around grilling sausages while commanding his little crime fief.
Here is the problem. Unlike the "Godfather" series, which almost canonizing the mobsters with old world grandeur, this movie is upfront that these mobsters are greedy bullies, just out to have a good time. They are fun loving party animals who threaten to kill the club owner they suck off of as he tries to collect the tab from Tommy DeVito, the fun loving murderous little psychopath that made Joe Pesci a household name, and his character niche. That's the problem, the movie glorifies gangster life and is a media "pimp ride" for a killer hood like real life Henry Hill. It's more than a morally dubious movie. Even "Clockwork Orange" which was banned in England with the help of Stanley Kubrick, was more of a morality play than this. Without belaboring the point, since Scorcese is such a good film maker, he puts a glam spin on these real life people who should be swinging from the gallows, not serving as role models for a growing psychopath. That is why I only gave it a 6, it deserves a 9.5 by most "normal" movie scales. It is funny, dramatic and always interesting. The music, the good hits of the time mirroring Hill's career from the late 40's to the late 70'sis a great melding of pop culture. It is almost uproariously funny. I only recommend this to mature adults, which excludes about half the country.