Written by Jennifer
March 03, 2009
There's a distinct difference in stories that take a long time to tell and taking a long time to tell a story. The Lord of the Rings, for example, takes a long time to tell.
There's a distinct difference in stories that take a long time to tell and taking a long time to tell a story. The Lord of the Rings, for example, takes a long time to tell. So does The Sound of Music, especially when you make room for all that singing, but there's no reason for Casino to be three hours long. I do not subscribe Kevin Costner's theory that a three hour movie is always better than a ninety minute one, but I'm beginning to see that Martin Scorsese does. It'll be a dark day when the two of them finally realize what they have in common and decide to make a movie together.
In short, Casino is a weirdly romanticized account of 1970's Las Vegas, when crime lords were king and corruption ruled. The story is narrated by a variety of characters, including some who only appear momentarily. This unusual approach creates a gossipy tone with each character vying for the opportunity to get a word in, but detracts from the central characters: Sam (Robert DeNiro) and Nicky (Joe Pesci), two mobsters who have been friends for most of their lives.
Vegas is the perfect place for a bookie like Sam to thrive under the appearance of legitimacy, and in it he finds a sort of haven. When the beautiful Ginger (Sharon Stone) catches his eye, he sees the opportunity to complete his vision of the perfect life. Unfortunately she's a hooker-turned-hustler who can't seem to cut ties to her pimp (the ever-sleazy James Woods). Regardless, Sam asks her to marry him and promises to take care of her for the rest of her life.
Even though Ginger says she doesn't love him "that way," they are married anyway, and have a baby even before the wedding. Sam feels that marriage is nothing without trust, and gives Ginger access to crucial records and valuables. As if this slope weren't slippery enough, Nicky arrives in town wanting a piece of the Vegas action. He doesn't operate as discreetly as Sam, and threatens Sam's position through association. As a hit man and thief, Nicky takes advantage of the casino scene, and makes quite a splash. When he sets out to whack somebody, he's more than happy to keep kicking and shooting long after his target is dead.
As with all mob movies, there's nowhere to go from here but down. Ginger becomes increasingly rebellious, giving money to her pimp, sleeping with Nicky, and doing a variety of drugs. She's an awful mother, and a nightmare of a wife. Nicky's shenanigans get him banned from a variety of establishments and attract the eye of the FBI. It's only a matter of time before these two meet their end. Sam's reign as a Vegas king is cut short not by death, but by big corporations who destroy the Vegas empire he knew and loved.
Casino had the potential to be a great movie—its soundtrack is jam packed with memorable 70's songs, there's a solid cast to carry the film, and at times it's quite funny. Nicky speaks with such irreverent frankness that it's hard not to laugh, and there's a great scene when Ginger throws a fit on the front lawn. She arrives, strung out, on her own doorstep, but Sam claims he's afraid to let her in. She explodes into a rage and tears into a little shrub in front of her, flinging leaves and twigs at an impassive Sam.
Even so, the comical aspects of Casino don't quite compensate for the violence—think eye guts and spurting blood—and profanity. I have a remarkably high tolerance for these things in the right context, but the f-word is so overused in Casino that I am surprised they didn't exhaust the entire supply in our collective vocabulary. I'm the first to admit that the f-word can be used to great effect, but when every sentence is sprinkled heavily with it, it becomes boring, and you start to think that these characters aren't bad, aren't cool, just lacking in wit. Maybe that's the point, but as the Mormon lady pointed out in Dog Day Afternoon, "my ears aren't trash cans."
I suspect I would have reacted better to all of this if the movie weren't so f-ing long. After a falsely exciting opening scene (Robert DeNiro blows up in his car) the story immediately starts to drag, and a great amount of time is spent just explaining the casino underworld: the hierarchy, the payoffs, the schemes, the hits, the whole shebang. By the time the story finally began to move, I was so exhausted by the whole affair that I had almost no investment in the events that unfolded or the characters behind them.
DVD NOTES
This 10th Anniversary Special Edition DVD boasts the usual deleted scenes, as well as a variety of making-of materials, including background on Vegas and the mafia, creating "the look" of 70's Vegas, and a documentary on true-crime author of Casino, Nicholas Pileggi. "Moments" with Martin Scorsese, Sharon Stone, and Nicholas Pileggi are apparently just that—a new audio commentary track was not added to the film. Sadly, there is no DeNiro. Other web reviews cite problems with the DVD sticking/digitizing around chapter 13, and I experienced the same darn thing around chapter 11... Something to think about when purchasing the new edition.
