Martin Scorsese's newest film was almost a recycling of some of his old films and with the same three stock actors. . . Watched it and it was like watching bits of Goodfellow's, Casino and even Mean Streets all rolled into one. Which is not to say that in a negative way, but seeing one Scorsese mafia movie..pretty much not surprise by anything from him. But they are all film classics, of course. DeNero was too old for the Irishman role. Which put a damper on the whole movie for me. That fact kept running through my mine watching. Only time DeNero seemed to fit was when he was in that wheelchair. Can make a young actor look old, but not a old actor look young with any great success. Even though DeNero's father was half Italian and half Irish, and his mother was mostly Angel-Saxon/German, DeNero still looked ethnic Italian, far from that Irish look that was needed in the movie. Three hours long, by about a half an hour. Good movie by Scorses, but not a perfect movie, because you really knew want to expect. No shocker, for me anyway. Al Pacino outstanding and he held his at times his over acting in check in this film. What really helped make the movie was all the talented character actors.
Really liked Joe Pesci in Casino and Good Fellows. That was perfect casting for Pesci, underplayed and all, in the Irishman. Still liked the God Father (1 & 2) as my favorite Mafia movie. The Bronx Tale , another underrated gangster movie. That curb scene, in front of the grocery store, really showed DeNero's age. He looked like an old may looking for his walker.
Over all,a very over hyped film, but enjoyable never the less.
(there was another Irishman mentioned in the film. That was JFK and family. Adding the subtle hints that he was the victim of a planned Mafia hit. That Cuba thing was also very interesting and the fact that JFK did turn his back on support during the Bay of Pigs blunder. The Kennedy family did make their wealth from working with the Mafia way back in the day....that's easy to research for any one)
