THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 28, 1995 TAG: 9511280041
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 94 lines
AS A STUDY of greed and power, ``Casino'' is a misfire in the always interesting career of director Martin Scorsese.
After proving that he could tread new territory in ``The Age of Innocence,'' Scorsese returns to familiar territory here - the world of organized crime. He has examined this underbelly of society with more energy and imagination in ``Mean Streets'' and ``Goodfellas.'' His new film is nothing new.
Regrettably, too, it is not riveting. In telling the story of two criminals who find power and riches in the Las Vegas of the 1970s, he pushes relentlessly forward through the film's three-hour running time. While usually interesting, the trip is neither engaging nor compelling. It plods rather than runs through its material.
Ultimately, the real problem with ``Casino'' is that there is no one to care about. Unlike, for example, Coppola's epic ``Godfather'' trilogy, the criminals here have no saving graces. The film is narrated by two characters, a device that is as confusing as it is excessive. The two gangsters tell us too much. They reveal their inner thoughts and, in so doing, let us know that they are no more decent than they appear to be.
The all-star cast is amazing to watch, even to so little purpose. Robert De Niro delivers a surprisingly low-keyed, sane and sensible performance as Ace Rothstein, a bookie who is given the job of running a Las Vegas casino. ``For guys like us, Las Vegas washes away your sins,'' he says. ``It's a morality carwash.''
Sporting garishly colored clothes, Ace is a smalltime hood who is out of his territory. It is one of De Niro's less showy per-formances.
Sharon Stone plays Ginger, the semi-hooker, semi-business woman who becomes the bride of Ace. If you thought this would be the breakthrough in which Stone finally revealed that she could act, then you're giving Scorsese too much credit and Stone not enough. It is clear from her past work that she is an actress who is just waiting for that ``right'' role. It is just as clear that while Ginger is a step forward, it is not quite that part. Ginger turns out to be an alcoholic and a mentally disturbed hellion but she's still not a developed character.
Faring best is Joe Pesci, who struts, yells and uses the F word constantly. He steals what there is to steal of the film, but it's only a repeat of his Oscar-winning role in ``Goodfellas.'' He's Nicky, the trigger-happy one of the two lead gangsters. It's his lack of subtlety that eventually gets the two in trouble.
De Niro's Ace character is brought down by the fact that he can't quite make himself shed Nicky, his boyhood friend. The idea that friendship could be the cause of the downfall is the film's most promising theme.
Don Rickles has few lines but is a fine, threatening force as second in command at the casino. James Woods has no more than a presence in his typically weirdo role as the pimp from Ginger's past. There are other such oddities as Dick Smothers playing a crooked senator and Frankie Avalon and Steve Allen playing themselves.
The film, based on a book by Nicolas Pileggi, is further disfigured by a silly soundtrack that refuses to stay in the background. For no dramatic reason, we hear a marathon of '70s pop music playing on top of the dialogue. There's everything from the Rolling Stones to the theme from ``Picnic.'' It's a little as if someone has left a radio playing in the theater - tuned to a station that has nothing to do with the film.
The expected violence is shattering when it does occur. Shootings are treated as casual, quick happenings, with the exception of two horrifically gory scenes. In order for this violence to make any dramatic sense, it would have to be countered with a softer, more balanced, film at the core.
The essence of tragedy is that there must be a fall from nobility. But from the first, these characters seem almost casual about their hopeless condition.
``Casino'' is so bitter and so relentlessly sour that it never allows us to step back and take its excesses as anything less than excessive. ILLUSTRATION: PHIL CARUSO / Universal Pictures
Robert De Niro plays gambler ``Ace'' Rothstein, whose romance with
Ginger (Sharon Stone) ignites a tale of greed and betrayal set in
1970s Las Vegas in Martin Scorsese's ``Casino.''
Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Casino''
Cast: Robert De Niro, Sharon Stone, Joe Pesci, James Woods, Don
Rickles, Alan King, Kevin Pollak, L.Q. Jones, Dick Smothers
Director: Martin Scorsese
Screenplay: Scorsese and Nicholas Pileggi
MPAA rating: R (brutal violence)
Mal's rating: two stars
Locations: Chesapeake Square, Greenbrier in Chesapeake; Circle
4, Main Gate in Norfolk; Columbus, Kemps River, Lynnhaven Mall,
Surf-N-Sand in Virginia Beach
by CNB