Enjoyable Trash

Rating: Null/10 (8 December 2003)

Scarface is a fun, bloody, violent, curse-filled gangster movie that has earned a cult following from decades of television. If you haven't seen it I suggest you check it out. Scarface is NOT, however, a good movie in any sense. Brian DePalma's direction is stiff and stagy, the cinematography is poor at best, and then there are the performances.
Al Pacino, a great actor by most standards, gives an unbelievably broad and unfocused performance as the title character, speaking in an accent so outrageously bad it provided stand-up comedians with years of material. Robert Loggia is weak and unconvincing as an established kingpin, and Michelle Pfieffer is lousy as "Latin" siren Elvira Hancock.

Gangster-wannabes seem to love this movie more than anyone else (especially the faux gangsters of the hip-hop generation), and while it is not a good film by any stretch it is a must-see. Two great sequences that come to mind: 1) The Sloppy "Cocaine Power" montage, in which Tony Montana rakes in the green while marrying his flame and buying a tiger, all to the strains of awful 80's power-pop. 2) Tony sitting alone at the club, drugged-out and bored, watching Octavio, some bizarre Latin puppet-mime, until two hitmen attempt to assassinate him. "Say hello to my little friend!"