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GoodFellas is certainly well directed, has some very good supporting characters and a great score.
Nonetheless the story, which is loosely based on the rise and fall of the real life Henry Hill, didn't catch me for most of the time. The portrayal of the Mafia was almost like they are a poker club for older men, occasionally stealing some money from the dumb. I really missed the constant menace like in The Godfather or the epic of Once Upon A Time In America. The movie was too lighthearted for my fancy. Sure, it had some hints of black comedy, which is always a bonus for me, but the film didn't captivate me. I never really cared for any of the characters, mostly because they were way too one-dimensional or underdeveloped. Furthermore Ray Liotta was a bad choice for the main character. His obvious lack in acting didn't really help to enthrall me.
Still, for reasons mentioned at the beginning, this movie is good, but not brilliant, like it's IMDB-score would suggest. It is definitively one of the better Mafia movies out there, but in my opinion never reaches the best of this genre and/or Scorsese's portfolio.
7/10
