NOT the classic intended....

Rating: 6/10 (4 March 2012)

To begin with, Scorsese was NOT the ideal talent to bring this slight (if charming) pastry to the screen. His direct driving touch is far from the only reason that it does not gel....but it is the most important reason....(for an example of what a lighter, defter touch might have done...check out the whimsy and genuine magic of "Midnight In Paris"...Woody Allen might also have done something with some of the actors who seem to be totally beyond Scorsese's control. I am talking of Sacha Baron Cohen in particular whose characterization is so bizarrely misguided that it robs most of the film of genuine tension (I could begin by asking about the horrid cockney accent...and the beyond asinine moment when he is depicted as sharing a bathtub with his dog WHILE WEARING LONG UNDERWEAR...((if it was meant to be funny ha ha ...it ain't))...and the attempt to humanize him with a wishy-washy romance only adds to the films prodigious length).
There are also severe problems with pacing and narrative drive...and most of the big final chase sequence seems quite shockingly amateurish and slip-shod.
Despite the obvious mega-bucks thrown at this (or possibly partially because it it was so grossly over decked out) much of this seems as heavy as a lead balloon...despite some appealing work from the two young stars (though Chloe is a bit too hip, mod and American)...and some of the supporting actors...
My final assessment is that no matter how many awards are thrown at it...it flopped for several good reasons...including the simple fact that it was ill conceived and over produced....things that are almost always detrimental to such light pieces...
It might have made a nice 90 minute animated feature...the heavy (and not too convincing) over use of CGI makes it feel like it is half animated anyway.