Well…it’s better than ‘Taxi Driver’.
DeNiro’s performance is pretty good, especially as the later LaMotta in the intro and near the end.
Joe Pesci is pretty good as brother Joey, too. I like the walking scene with Pesci talking nicely with Batts – hahaha…funny. You know, just funny, it’s a funny scene…
The problem is the characters themselves and the script are, for most of the movie, either really fcken annoying or really boring.
Lotsa yelling and swearing in the beginning, not much else IMPO.
Then some really dull courting-the-blonde scenes:
LaMotta’s approach: “Hey. Hey. Ya like the car. Wanna go for a ride? Yeah. Hey. My house. Living room. Bedroom. Yeah. Hey, a kiss.”
Really…interesting.
Then there’s more yelling, swearing, bickering…with brief dull interludes.
Hey, what a surprise…Pesci’s character goes psycho and the Batts relationship doesn’t last. You can see that 15 years later (and a lot better) in ‘Goodfellas’.
The politics aspect is somewhat interesting but it takes a long time to get to that, and the last LaMotta/Robinson fight is interesting for the filming as well as for LaMotta’s refusal to go down.
I take back that Scorsese/DeNiro comment I made a long time ago. I prefer Burton/Depp.
On Netflix Streaming until 7/2/14.
Grade: D+
Same-Day Edit: No, it’s not better. I guess the intimidation factor got to me…I mean, it’s supposed to be a CLASSIC. But I think it’s pretty d@mn mediocre. At best. Grade: D