So what's all the fuss about then?

Rating: 6/10 (21 February 2003)

I bought this film on DVD on the strength of two things - one, de Niro's excellent track record, and two, the very high rating on IMDB (in the Top 50). Having watched it, I have to ask what all the fuss is about? This is a very ordinary film which explores at extreme length the intimate details of the lives of the most childish individuals ever committed to celluloid. Whether or not people like these really exist, I found it completely uninteresting. I have no idea why so many people are fascinated by the mafia - maybe it's envy of the power - but they should not hold a fascination for civilised human beings. People who deal out death as a punishment for the slightest reverse in their lives deserve to be ignored or reprimanded, not lauded and celebrated as in this film. For every Henry Hill, there are a thousand or more kept in poverty because of the crime which supports his odious lifestyle. It would be nice to think there was some kind of a moral ending, but even then, we see Henry selling out his colleagues just to keep himself somewhere nearer the feeding trough.
How anyone can rate this film so highly is beyond me; how so many of you IMDB browsers can and do, just beggars belief!