Like a boring version of Forrest Gump and JFK with four of the greatest actors

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 2019)

Scorsese spent too much time on the CGI effects and not enough time crafting the scenes and paying attention to detail. There are very few memorable scenes after three and a half hours which is a shame.
The only reason I give it a 6 and not a 4 is because De Niro, Keitel, Pacino and Pesci are all on the screen together and that will never happen again. All four are great in their roles.
To my surprise, Ray Romano was a standout.
The best scene involves De Niro, Keitel and Pesci sitting together which is a first in movie history. It is also the first time De Niro and Keitel have acted in a scene together since Taxi Driver.
The screenplay and dialogue are not up to par.
This project was doomed from the start because the story is ridiculous and was finished by the writer after Sheehan died.
The Hoffa case remains a total mystery and many of the ideas floated here are non-plausible. Some of the major known facts about this case are left out.
There are a lot of historical inaccuracies presented and a lot of sloppiness. The dialogue is extremely weak. Many of the scenes are pointless.
Scorsese shamelessly rips off the Anastasia/Godfather scene which has no place in this story except that he attempts to transform one character into being a major person involved in that storyline which wasn't the case.
For a 3 and a half hour film, this film left a lot to be desired and could have easily lost an hour.
There are some interesting thoughts on aging which are pounded in during the last 30 minutes which is what I think most of this is really about which makes for two separate movies. There are some reminders at the end of De Niro in Awakenings. It is no coincidence this movie shares the same writer as Awakenings.
In the final analysis, the Hoffa mystery is interesting and it is not a bad subject to tackle but it was tried back in 1992 with Nicholson and DeVito and was a total boring flop. This movie was paced even slower than that one.
It felt like a mix of Forrest Gump and JFK with two of the characters seemingly everywhere at all times and involved in all things. There are also all of these conspiracy theories that start turning it into an Oliver Stone film. Scorsese made the mistake of buying all the way into this book and turning two of these people into more than what they were.
I wish De Niro, Keitel, Pacino and Pesci had done something a little better together. They are four of the best ever.