Born to Win Reviews

As you may have noticed, I’m a very obsessive movie watcher and one of my very first obsession was/is Robert de Niro. I just love this actor and I have been watching many of this movies during the last 18 years (65 so far and still 20 to go). However, since the beginning of this decade, he has been making about 3 or 4 movies a year and most of them were of a very dubious quality so I’m not as fanatic as I used to be about his work but I still watch some of them from time to time. Anyway, even though it can be interesting to dig up into his old work, it can be also pretty thankless as well. Indeed, basically, this feature is one of those lame movies where they put de Niro prominently on the packaging when, in fact, the guy just shows up for a vey few minutes in a very very minor role… So, that was a major setback but, to my surprise, it was actually a very decent drug themed drama. Indeed, George Segal, who I knew by name but not through his work, was actually pretty good and delivered a solid performance. I also appreciated the dark and bleak tone of the whole thing and, even though there was so room for humor, it was still a rather sad and depressing affair. Of course, in its genre, it is nothing really amazing and there are some much better movies but I thought it was still pretty good. To conclude, you shouldn’t watch it for Robert de Niro, but, against all expectations, it is actually a decent feature and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

I admit that the only reason I sought this film out is because I'm trying to see all of Robert De Niro's early movies. Of the ones I've seen this one may be the best, it was better than I expected giving its limited stature, availability and horribly deteriorated picture. It's about a small-time hood played by George Segal who is being set up by police (one of whom happens to be De Niro in a small role) to take down a high profile mob criminal. There are a few eye-opening sequences including a chase in a parking garage and one showing the outcome of taking bogus drugs. The only disappointment would have to be how it ends. Segal's character probably wants to go straight but ultimately doesn't really learn anything from the life of crime he was living. Not a disappointment but worth a look.