I just don't understand.

Rating: Null/10 (16 July 2003)

I really suspect that I didn't properly understand this film. I'm a fan of gangster movies, and ironically Casino is one of my favourite films, but I really thought this was trash.
It has one simple problem: the main characters, with the possible exception of De Niro's, just aren't intimidating. Joe Pesci's in particular is a squeaky-voiced midget, and all are hopelessly incompetent morons. Are we really supposed to believe that these idiots, alternately irritating and clueless, work their way up through ranks of brutal, remorseless killers and thieves? Pah.
I give the actors credit for trying hard, but they're wrestling with two-dimensional scenarios and a one-dimensional script throughout. In one memorable scene, three foot tall, mickey-mouse voiced "unpedictable maniac" Tommy De Vito (Pesci) rants, "But, I'm funny how? Funny like a clown? I amuse you? I make you laugh? I'm here to fuckin' amuse you?". Luckily, Henry Hill, the pimply faced runty butt of his joke is the sort of "hardened gangster" who throws up at the sight of a dead body, and so Tommy doesn't get the punch in the face he so richly deserves. Ooooh what gritty realism.
Garbage. Nothing out of ten.