Final Verdict: Guilty of being OVERRATED and BORING

Rating: 5/10 (25 November 2006)

I sat down to watch this movie last night and gave it my undivided and utmost attention to the director's cut DVD for 3 hrs and 49 minutes. Let me tell you that I am a bottom line guy. And the bottom line is that the movie, IMO is flat-out boring. I tried so hard after reading the overwhelming amount of positive reviews on it. In fact let's start with the positives. There are good aspects to the film.
I think there are some beautiful shots throughout the film. ALso, Leone really nailed the set. I mean the look and fell of the movie was awesoome. The prohibition day scenes in NYC are flawless in terms of the set and costumes. Also, I did enjoy some of the shocking scenes. There are some tense moments in the film. Also, I think that James Woods did a good but not great job. He was solid. Robert De Niro was very good as Noodles too. But De Niro is good in everything. He is great in Once Upon yet again.
Now...on to the negatives. For a movie that is 3 hrs and 49 minutes I couldn't believe how poorly the character relationships were developed. I never got into the characters. I cared about NONE of them. I didn't see why they were such good friends. It was poorly developed. There were no scenes that showed me why the crew were so endeared to each other. It seemed very forced. Also, the acting and dialouge was below average. That's right. I said it. I was bored out of my mind during this film. I tried sooooo hard. Everyone was wooden as an actor (minus Woods and De Niro and Danny Aiello). Elizabeth McGovern, who played the Deoborah, was terrible. She was sleeping through every line. No emotion. I just had zero connection with any of the main characters. Treat Williams....what was that role? I am getting mad just sitting here thinking about the lack of character development and the BORING dialouge. AGH! Also, for a gangster film it didn't have enough action. It really didn't.
I didn't like Once Upon A Time in America much at all. I love movies, and appreciate the great ones. But this one is overrated, folks. You couldn't pay me to sit through this one again. IT WAS BORING! AND I DIDN'T FEEL ANYTHING FOR ANY CHARACTERS. NONE. Now that I think about it....I actually hated the film. I thought, after reading reviews, there would be a 90% chance I loved it, a 9% chance I'd be indifferent towards it, and a 1% chance I'd hate it. I guess the 1% won out here. DAMN, what a disappointment!