Over the top

Rating: 3/10 (21 February 2005)

I had a lot of fun reading all the comments about this movie here on IMDb. It seems almost everyone agrees that this movie is a classic, almost to the point of being underrated (and a movie loved by everyone that is STILL underrated must be amazing!). I must say that i am of a different opinion. I would rather have to say that this is one of the most overrated movies of our time.
The story of the Cuban immigrant going from having nothing to controlling the drug-trade in Miami, making millions and millions of dollars, is nothing spectacular. The same story has been made numerous times both before and after. This however is not necessarily anything negative. The story does have it's points. What i can't help feeling is that the story has been done so much better before. While there are many things separating "The Godfather" parts 1 and 2 from "Scarface", too many things to really compare them, the Godfather movies were still a so much better tale of an immigrants rise to criminal fame and riches.
The main problem i have with "Scarface" however is that most of the time i don't even know if it's being serious or not. Simply because everything is so ridiculously over the top. Wardrobe, acting, music, cinematography and not least the dialog. It's all bordering on comedy, and sometimes quite blatantly stepping over that border. The most shining example is Al Pacino. A talented actor no doubt. But his accent here is... i can't even find the right word to describe it. It comes and goes through the whole movie, and his English is more broken in the finale than ever before in the movie (his English is WORSE in the end than it was when he first came to the US. "Sayy helo to my liddle fren"?! And i don't even want to know what Michelle Pfeiffer did here, she was awful to say the least. It looks as though she felt completely out of place. And i can imagine that a frantic movie like this could make actors feel a bit strange.
So this is an entertaining movie. But i'm entertained more by how bad it is than anything else. It brings out loads of laughter, but not from being smart or well-made, rather by being silly and overblown. Many lines of dialog are instant classics, but mostly because of the laughable way they are uttered. DePalma proves here more than anywhere that he is the king of "style over substance". I watch this, and i am entertained. But a classic it is not. I rate it 3/10.