A long ride in a broken time machine

Rating: 5/10 (12 June 2007)

I have a rule, if a movie goes past that 2 hour range it has to be really good. 3 hours, it must be epic, and 4 hours, well...you get the picture. I have this rule because the only thing worse than a bad movie is a bad movie thats really long. This movie wasn't really bad, but was really just OK, and definitely not worth the 4 hour run time (directors cut).
The back story of how the characters grew up and was good and the plot, sets and costumes made up for the bad kid acting in the first section of the film, but things go way downhill from there.
First off, the movie is like a ride in a broken time machine. why does the director or editor think its appropriate to jump around from decade to decade? How does that help tell the story? It doesn't, it just makes a long and complicated story very difficult for the viewer to follow (and I had the subtitles on so i didn't miss a word). The dialogue gives the actors very little to work with as Deniro has a blank stare throughout the film. Then there is the timing of the delivery, its like: who is it? [10 seconds later] its me. And I'm left thinking, wtf? Is that extra 10 seconds supposed to be 'dramatic'? Well its not its annoying and in a film this long, you'd think you'd want to keep the action moving.
There are a few scenes where Max (james woods) is able to show us his ability to act but it happens in a way that makes the story seem unbelievable. I am left thinking, good acting but why would this character behave like that? This guy goes from never robbing a bank, to wanting to rob the federal reserve? its just too stupid, and Max isn't that stupid.
The love story that develops makes absolutely no sense and is interrupted with other scenes of random and quite disturbing bizarreness. I could go on, but unlike Sergio Leone, I know when to stop. The movie had a good start and a good premise, but the plot went everywhere, too many people did too many things that didn't make sense, none of the characters are electrifying, and the film is just waaay too long to be enjoyable in spite of all of that.