An amazing score helps this decent movie

Rating: Null/10 (25 July 2002)

*Once Upon a Time in America*
I have seen the 3 hour version (or whatever version AMC plays ever so often) many times. It's not that it's a great movie, it's just that whenever it's on I feel I have to watch it. And maybe I'll pick up on something I didn't understand the first time I saw it. Because there are some things that just don't come together.
It starts of slow, with Robert De Niro revisiting his childhood home in New York. I suppose he hasn't seen it in a while, and everything has changed. But instantly you are taken with the score. I believe the score of the film to be one of the best in history. I was really taken with it. The scenes when Robert De Niro and his pals are kids is perfect. I would give those scenes alone a 10. When we first see him spying on (the very young) Jennifer Connelly while she is dancing (and that beautiful score plays), the second time I saw this movie it made my eyes tear up. Just out of pure brilliance and knowledge of what was going to happen in the future with the young kids.
But when the cast gets older the movie starts to fall apart. It still has that heartbreaking score that pulls at your strings, but sometimes things happened so fast you got lost. And the only way you can tell if it's a flashback or not is by the color of Robert De Niro's hair. But sometimes he wears a hat and you get incredibly confused. I did however enjoy how New York was seen throughout the years in the movie.
The kid who plays young Robert De Niro has a mole so fake, it's obvious. Besides that he does good. As does the real De Niro. Jennifer Connelly could have used an acting lesson and out of the whole cast who would have known she would be the next to win an Oscar? Besides Jo Pesci, who was in it for about one minute and he didn't even stand up. But he got billing far before Connelly who had a bigger part and was in it for a bit longer. And kudos to the casting agent on whoever cast the older version of Connelly, it took me a while to realize it wasn't the real Connelly.

No kudos to the makeup artist. The kid with the fake mole and the fact that older Jennifer Connelly didn't have one wrinkle on her face when she was about 60 is just insane.
This was not quite a masterpiece... but so very close. I still can't believe it didn't win an Oscar for best score!
*8.5/10*