Does anyone talk about this film any more? It was a big deal at the time. Newman finally getting an Oscar. Scorsese doing something commercial. Tom Cruise doing something classy. Eric Clapton. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio winning the reviews. You couldn't go near a pool table for a few years there without people flipping around the pool cues like Cruiser.
I was getting sick of Scorcese's needle drops but this has dumb 80s soundtrack-itis. It was dull. So dull.
Good actors. Newman was fine - no one begrudged him an Oscar, though he'd been better in lots of other movies. Mastrantonio is excellent. So too is Cruise.
I guess the characters are interesting. But they just sort of hang around. The one memorable scene is when Newman realises he's been hustled by Forest Whitaker. That was effective.
There's some Scorsese flourishes like zooms and Italian Americans yelling (Cruise, Mastranotonio) - when Newman joins in it's not as fun.
I remember watching this at the cinema when I was a kid and feeling guilty I didn't like it because the reviews told me to like it. I was wrong to feel guilty this simply isn't very good. And they spent so much time on preparing it, too.
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