The words Martin Scorsese and crime drama go together like cheeseburgers and French fries. Or Spaghetti and meatballs. Whatever food analogy you choose to use, I don’t think anyone who sees The Irishman will be able to say that it’s a three-course dinner.
The movie started as a limited theatrical release on November 1st and then made its way to Netflix just in time for Thanksgiving. All I can say is Scorsese is once again in his element and for three and a half hours, it doesn’t disappoint.
The Irishman puts Scorsese together with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in a true story that manages to be gripping and involving as anything Scorsese has made since Goodfellas or The Departed.
De Niro plays Frank Sheeran, a meat truck driver from Philadelphia who gets hired to deliver shipments to an organized crime unit. He gets introduced to Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci, coming out of retirement) the head of the Northeastern Pennsylvania crime syndicate.
Soon Bufalino introduces Sheeran to Jimmy Hoffa (Al Pacino), a Teamster who has been under mounting pressure from the government. He also has financial ties with Bufalino.
After the election of JFK, Hoffa is devastated and eventually ends up serving time for jury tampering. After his release, Hoffa is determined to reclaim his rightful position and he wants both Sheeran and Bufalino to set things right. This includes dominating his longtime rival Teamster Tony Pro (Stephen Graham). Pacino and Graham exchange paltry dialogue in some very heated scenes.
There are also a number of scenes where the three main actors are de-aged and the result is perhaps the best use of this technical prowess. The actors’ younger selves are seamlessly interwoven to being beyond convincing.
What you get in The Irishman is more like a greatest hits compilation of Scorsese’s themes: Guilt and betrayal, jealousy and greed, murder and deception. Scorsese knows how to utilize these themes to such jarring effect and delivers them yet again.
Pacino, De Niro, and Pesci give top-notch performances in scene after scene that range anywhere from quietly tense to economically sound. None of them waste one second of screen time. Pacino, in particular, captures Hoffa’s essence and I would be shocked if he isn’t included in the conversation for that precious Best Actor Oscar.
De Niro and Pesci also make the most of Stephen Zaillian’s phenomenal script by showcasing the inner workings of who they are and the desperate measures they take to secure their enterprise. I mentioned guilt and there’s a scene that is symbolic of that where the two men sit down and share bread and wine together.
Even with a 209-minute runtime, The Irishman takes familiar steps and reinvents them in an authentic, engrossing portrait that is worthy of that length.
“I heard you paint houses,” one character asks Sheeran over the phone. Well, I hear this movie is another strong contender for the best of the year.
Grade: A
(Rated R for pervasive language and strong violence.)
