Good film, shame about the awful, awful ending

Rating: 5/10 (6 August 1999)

I am a huge fan of the first two Godfather films and give them both full marks however, this film suffers dreadfully from the unfortunate casting of Sofia Coppola as one of the principal characters.
The film is good on the whole, and Sofia Coppola's acting was bearable, if appalling, right up until that death scene. I am usually in tears at this sort of thing, but when Sofia Coppola turns to Al Pacino, says "Dad" and then collapses to the ground, I can not resist from laughing incredibly loudly. The scene would have been fine and very moving - Al Pacino was very effective and I could have cried at his emotion if I wasn't laughing so hard by that point - if another actress had been cast. This just ruined the whole film for me and although everything else about the film was generally very good, this hideous performance just mars the whole thing. I am unable to watch the film now and properly enjoy it as I am always waiting for the dreadful scene outside the opera. I can't emphasise enough how this scene completely overshadows the rest of the film. It is such a shame but then again who cares?