Way too long

Rating: 5/10 (5 January 2005)

I concur with many of the other user comments: this film could have been so much better. The actors are astounding; they make you believe they are the character just as actors are supposed to. Leonardo, Cate Blanchett and Alan Alda give stand-out performances. Cate, as Katherine Hepburn, actually made me forget it was a role she was playing. Leonardo, in a very nuanced performance, was in nearly every scene; quite a task for a performer. He carries the film without getting tedious with his performance. It's the subject matter as presented I have fault with. I didn't care about Howard and holding the camera on his compulsive traits did not make me care about him more. The things I did care about (the drive of life for Howard and the people around him in the 1930s) were sort of glossed over. Martin Scorsese: I expected so much more from you!!