I really wanted to see this to scratch a mental itch and what my friends told me was pretty correct, if you’ve seen Goodfellas, there’s little reason to see Casino. It demonstrated how Marty has little right to criticize others, especially when he was crappin’ all over the MCU movies. Meanwhile, he only knows how to write/direct one type of story, gangster stuff. I was also disappointed with all the name changes since much of Casino‘s plot was based upon the Outfit’s rather turbulent Seventies, hence why the government went after them harder than before. St. Reagan and his Neo-Con goons did most of it, the Outfit tended to contribute more to the Democratic Party.
On its own merits, it isn’t a very good movie. DeNiro looks bored. Pesci is a parody of the shallow Jim Breur impression from SNL. Stone really needed to star in a movie which wasn’t softcore porn. It was cool to see Joe Bob Briggs in a minor role; he’s one of the locals the Outfit employs to keep the gaming commission appeased. Ditto for Don Rickles in a dramatic part; the casino’s manager.
Should Casino come up on your streaming service, pass it up. Either watch Mary’s swan song Goodfellas or try to find the better, funnier parody…Jane Austen’s Mafia.