The review:
Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman is worth watching for its excellent performances—Joe Pesci was my favorite—but ultimately is a bloated, overly long story that isn’t very interesting.* This is a less-bloody Scorsese film,** and uses de-aging technology so that the main actors, all over 70, can play themselves at much younger ages.*** It may be that I’ve grown impatient with stories of manly men doing manly things,**** but this movie didn’t resonate with me at all.*****
The verdict: Skip
Cost: Netflix monthly fee ($8.99)
Where watched: at home
Consider watching these other Scorsese films instead:
Further sentences:
*It might have worked better as a four-episode limited series, but I would guess Mr. Scorsese thinks he’s too good for TV.
**but its lack of drama and tension had me wishing I was re-watching The Departed
***While everyone seems to be very impressed by this technology, I didn’t find it to be successful. Robert De Niro never looked actually young and thus it wasn’t always clear which of the many time periods we were in.
****For example, I just can’t get excited about Ford vs. Ferrari, even though it’s populated with actors I love.
*****And oh my god, if I had to see one more shot of Peggy (Anna Paquin) quietly observing her father I was going to figure out how to make a compilation video and then morph that into one of those big-eyed animals crying video. We get it already! She’s the moral center of the film! She has nothing else to do than to sadly judge! Where are the female characters in this film?!?
Questions:
- What did you think of this film that 96% of Rotten Tomato Critics found Fresh?
- What are the pluses and minuses of de-aging actors?
Favorite IMDB trivia item:
Robert De Niro wanted the film to retain the same title as the book I Heard You Paint Houses.
Me too, Mr. De Niro.
