Generic Biopic about 2 hours too long

Rating: 2/10 (14 October 2016)

I'm getting tired of Scorsese getting lauded just cos, hey man, it's Scorsese. This film was so excruciatingly mundane. I read in the "Trivia" section that there is a 4 hour cut somewhere. Christ. It's mostly improvised and you can tell as a lot of the actors are not capable improvisers. McConaughey is fine at it, as is Hill with his comedy background but the others? Pfft. DiCaprio just ends up chewing up the scenery and Robbie, god love her, tries her best but is usually overwhelmed by DiCaprio's voracious chewing. The problem with relying on improv to cover up your lack of a script is that you need a very very good editor, which Scorsese does not anymore. I also read in the"Trivia" section that Scorsese said the editing was intentionally 'odd' to heighten scenes where the characters take drugs. Bullcrap. Maybe in a couple of instances, but the rest of the time the editing is just awful. Continuity mistakes all over the place, lazy use of still shots, and one scene where there was a dissolve transition literally in the middle of a shot. Wft? But the main problem with the editing is the instances where there wasn't any. Soooo many obviously improved scenes were made even more obvious by the inability of the editor to do their job and cut at the right time. I'm all on for long continuous shots but they have to be justified. This film was like a student film-maker wanting to leave in all the footage cos, huh huh, my mates, huh huh, they're hilarious, huh huh. You wouldn't think Schoonmaker has over 40 years of editing experience. Since Kundun her work has been steadily declining, Gangs of New York, The Departed and Hugo stand out as particularly badly edited in recent times. And this one joins the list. So, overall, this film is over long, over indulgent and over praised. Kind of like the main character, but not intentionally so.