Newman shines, Cruise dazzles, Scorsese disappoints slightly.

Rating: Null/10 (9 January 2011)

I understand why Martin Scorsese directed The Color of Money. I just wish this small-time genre picture had been made at a little higher quality. After an attempt to film The Last Temptation of Christ in 1983 failed, Scorsese turned to smaller pictures made at lower budgets in order to get clout with studios. In 1985, he released After Hours, a strange, weirdly entertaining film of one man's wild and crazy night in Soho, New York. The Color of Money couldn't be more different in tone or style, yet it isn't able to conjure up the same energy or driving force After Hours did.
What does work in The Color of Money is the acting. Paul Newman, a legend of the silver screen, reprises his role as "Fast Eddie" Felson who is now 25 years older and comes across a young pool player that revives the competitive spirit in him. The player is Vincent, an extremely cocky and self-aware young man with a gorgeous yet somewhat detached girlfriend, Carmen. Tom Cruise is perfectly cast as Vincent, able to capture every amount of arrogance and superiority a young, successful player would have. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is wonderful as well; beautiful, mysterious and with a subtle underside to her character that gives her more of an edge than the main characters.
This, in turn, becomes one of the main problems of the film. What the screenplay lacks is an intriguing setup between Newman and Cruise. Here we have two bonafide stars of the screen, yet it becomes rather obvious what is going to happen in nearly every single scene between them. The generation gap as well as the differing personalities creates such a predictable conflict that the film loses much of its suspense and edge. Another problem is the flashy photography and editing tricks Scorsese utilizes in the pool scenes. More often than not, it probably would have been more effective to simply shoot it straight instead of trying to dress it up with so many effects and techniques. I understand why Scorsese did it this way, to draw in the large audiences to maintain his status. In the end, however, the final result doesn't add up to much of a great entertainment. With all this talent on display, it leaves something to be desired.