Review: Casino (B+)

Casino (1995)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Starring Robert Deniro, Joe Pesci, Sharon Stone, Don Rickles and James Woods
MPAA: R
Grade: B+

Review by Scott Standish  

Casino will always be measured against the quintessential Scorsese gangster film GoodFellas. It stars the same leads (Robert Deniro and Joe Pesci) and they play similar roles. In fact when I first saw the trailer for Casino I wondered if it was based on the same characters, only set in Vegas a short bit later. Of course, that was impossible as both are true stories, but they were really that similar in tone.

Casino tells the story of two mobsters that gain control of the Tangiers casino in Las Vegas. Deniro plays Sam "Ace" Rothstein, a handicapper so good that he was eventually given total control over the Tangiers. Pesci plays Nicky Santoro, a mob enforcer that is sent by the mob to make sure that no one interferes with Rothstein.

Pesci plays the same hot headed, violent lunatic that he did in GoodFellas, but Deniro shows a little more restraint as Ace. In Vegas, Ace has found a legal way to cheat the public out of their hard earned funds, so he's not interested in breaking the law. Why mess up a good thing?

Rothstein's first mistake was to marry Ginger, a boozing drug addict ex-prostitute. She is still in love with her grease-ball ex-pimp Lester Diamond (played wonderfully by James Woods) and she just can't seem to devote herself to the new marriage. Ginger continually steals cash from Rothstein to give it to Lester. Stone is very impressive in this film and she was rewarded with an Academy Award nomination for the performance.

Casino features some groundbreaking performances (Stone and Pesci are both brilliant) but as a whole, the film itself is not groundbreaking. Casino is simply a classic gangster film that all Scorsese fans must add to their collection. Highly recommended.