Someone who loves this movie please explain why

Rating: 3/10 (26 October 2004)

Well, I finally saw "Once Upon a Time in America" and it was not worth the wait. : ) Can someone who really LOVED this movie tell me why? I saw the extended version and it was like watching glaciers making love... : ) SO slow. The kids acting in the first part of the movie were painful to watch.
To give you an idea of how low an opinion of this movie I have, I saw "Sharkey's Machine" (1981) today on TV (Burt Reynold's last big movie) and let me say I enjoyed it's 70's style silliness better than this seemingly pretentious "masterpiece." Don't get me wrong, it has it's moments but in between long periods which could have been trimmed. The sets and costumes look great though... : )
************ Spoiler Alert ****************** What is with the opium den stuff? Not really explored at all, just to be taken as a given that De Niro is a Hophead? *********************************************
Anyway, someone tell me how this gets over 8 points when other ENTERTAINING flicks get the shaft. Keep in mind I also found "The Deer Hunter" too long, but couldn't get enough of the extended version of LOTR. Perhaps I am just a heathen... ; )