One of De Niro's best, but...

Rating: 7/10 (27 July 2001)

I actually saw this film because of its reference in an episode of "Celebrity Deathmatch"; I had heard of it before, but, not knowing a thing about real fighting, figured I wouldn't have a clue of what was going on. Though I'm glad I did see the film, my initial thoughts were dead on.
Watching this movie, I was never really sure why everything was going on, or sometimes even what was going on. Granted, I still know very little about the real Jake La Motta, but since this is a film appealing to a broad audience, shouldn't such loose ends should be tied up? I got the basics of the ups and downs in La Motta's life, but the details are what makes the basics so interesting, and I just didn't get a lot of the details. On a lesser note, the sudden switches to color for the home movie segments are also unnecessary, although it did at least tell me that those parts were in a different time, lest I be even more confused.
Whether or not I got all the plot, the acting was simply incredible. The intensity, focus, and eventual breakdown De Niro shows as La Motta are amazing, and the lengths he went to in weight differences and learning to box for the part show an admirable dedication to acting. The other La Motta's show equal intensity and anger, and most of the other characters also show above-average acting, although it's not as apparent because De Niro is so magnificent.
My father told me that this wasn't so much a movie as it was a showcase for Robert De Niro's acting. While I have to disagree on it not being much of a movie, I will agree, since I still can't decipher all the plot's fine details, that the main reason to see the film is without a doubt De Niro's acting, which is, again, simply amazing.