REVIEW:
Casino is a solid Martin Scorcese – Robert DeNiro – Joe Pesci movie. The three of these guys scored it big together in Raging Bull and then Goodfellas. With Casino, it was their third go-around, and in some cases it does feel like seen-it-before territory. Specifically with the Joe Pesci hot-headed overly-violent character. He won an Oscar for playing this same kind of role in Goodfellas, and he’s menacing again, here in Casino. But it definitely feels familiar.
The movie is about these two guys who were best friends growing up, and now come out here to Vegas, when one of them (Sam “Ace” Rothstein, DeNiro) gets hired to run a Casino. The problem is, these Casino are all backed by the mob. And so they need to be run a certain way. And Nicky (Pesci,) doesn’t exactly abide by those rules. The movie adds in a third main character, with Sharon Stone’s Ginger, and spends a lot of time dealing with her and Ace’s troubled relationship. There’s a lot going on here, including multiple brutal beating scenes, but the movie still feels too long. A little bit of trimming from the Ginger story would have gone a long way. Still, there’s no denying that this material is Scorcese right at home, where he is best, and watching this movie, with it’s voice-over narration and clever camera tricks, is watching a master at work.