Leo, Marty and Cate/Kate honor the best of cinema

Rating: 10/10 (23 December 2004)

A lot of the critics have commented on the fact that the leads do not physically resemble the people they are portraying. A lot of critics say Leo is too baby-faced to play an adult male, that Beckinsale is not in Ava Gardner's league, that Scorsese has made his least Scorsese-like movie, and that the movie is historically incorrect in many aspects.
Say whatever you want, but this is a well-conceived, entertaining movie, with all principals at the top of their game.
I think Leo does right by Marty, and vice-versa. They seem to work well together and I don't think if Marty wanted Leo in the movie, there was no pistol to his head forcing him to cast Leo. In fact, Leo brought the movie to Marty, and there was most likely no pistol involved in that exchange either.
If Leo and the rest are miscast, who should have played their parts? People like to complain about things like that, but all they are doing is complaining, and not offering alternative casting suggestions.
Blanchett deserves the Oscar right now. In some ways, she's the heart of the movie. She can do any accent you want, and do it expertly. Why do the British actors do accents better than anyone? I saw this at the first show on December 17, and am going again the day after tomorrow. As a dedicated Leo/Marty fan, I'd feel like I was letting them down if I didn't see this at least twice more.