Steineded How sad is this?

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Tss5078 For nearly six decades, Meyer Lansky was the brains behind the mafia, and is credited for their rise to power in Las Vegas. While being one of the more interesting criminals to ever live, his role was mainly behind the scenes and the film about his life turned out to be much less interesting than the man himself. Meyer Lansky (Richard Dreyfuss) was a Europen Jew, who fled to America in the early 20th century. Living on the streets of New York, he quickly fell in with the wrong people and started laundering money and bootlegging alcohol for some of New York's biggest gangsters. Lansky along with Lucky Luciano and Bugsy Siegel, formed one of the most profitable organizations in the history of the Mob, and are credited as the first group to officially be refereed to as organized crime. I've always loved mafia movies and did genuinely want to learn more about Meyer Lansky, but the truth is, what he did really wasn't that interesting. He wasn't a boss, he wasn't a hit-man, he was basically an accountant, trying to make money for all kinds of nasty people. The film was basically a behind the scenes look at the mob and I found it to be very long and boring. Reclusive veteran, Richard Dreyfuss, takes on the role of Lansky and fits the character like a glove. Dreyfuss even mirrored Lansky's mannerisms and was really very good. From an artistic stand point, Lansky was worth watching, as Dreyfuss wasn't the only one to turn in a powerhouse performance. I went into this film looking for an intense, fast-paced thriller, but what I got was more like some documentary on the mob, that put me to sleep. Everything was as it should be for an epic drama, but the truth is, the man they chose to feature, just wasn't the type of guy that needed to have a film made about his life.

Iva96 To put it in a few words: not enough real facts, not deep psychological analysis of the characters. The only good thing about the movie is the acting. But it does not make it for the movie length...After seeing the trailer, I waited the movie with very high expectations. I mean, hello, this was a movie about Meyer Lansky, the brain behind the Syndicate, one of the most influent mob leaders ever. An ocean of opportunities... And, what did I get for the two hours spent in front of the TV? just a big mark of question: "what did it want from me?!" There was not the rush and the fascinating action from "goodfellas" or "casino", nor the sympathetic romantic retrospective from "bugsy", and it was far from stories like "once upon a time in America". The biography is romanced and extremely brief. If you do not know the real life of Lansky, for sure you will not understand too many things from this movie. If you know it, you will be disappointed. And if the intention was to analyze the feelings and emotions of the character, well then, it didn't do it deep enough.

Peter Hayes Life and times of a key - but low key - character from the old-time Mob.Let us start with a morality play about Hollywood and the subjects it deems worthy of its lens. Few presidents get their own film and even when they do (Nixon, for example) audiences stay away.However the mob get the full-on treatment from Capone to Gotti there's a film (or more than one) in all of them! Yep, they are the Americans that really matter!The problem with Lansky is that he was certainly there and in the midst of it, but only in the sense of being around. He held the "stupidity" together allowing some money earning to take place rather than one long round of gang warfare.The choice of Lansky - as the central character is only about one thing: The others have been done. We are near the bottom of the barrel so we will have to make do with this slow speaking and low lying non-Italian!Eric Roberts is one of my favourite actors. He is in a lot of rubbish, but he is often the best thing in it. Here he has a real role (Bugsy Siegel - no less) and really gives it his all. The guy took a wrong turning (or maybe had no lucky break), or then again maybe Dreyfuss (Lansky) took it all?(When has a short bland guy - Dreyfuss - been cast in the lead of so many big movies without being any kind of box office draw? The rubber shark was the big star of Jaws - the audience would have cheered if he had been turned in to lunch!)I feel a cheat reviewer because the real life of Lansky is filed under "don't know - don't care." Well beyond the background knowledge of few books and TV documentaries.His life limped along and although pursued by law-and-order they didn't really have it in for him. There was never any big bang climax in his life and all we have as a climax here is more cod philosophy and accusations that you can buy or not buy.I can't buy anything he says, because he was a professional liar. For me buying the word of a professional liar would rather be like buying a hair restorer from a bald headed guy!

Yonhap S If done well, this would be a very interesting movie, but as it is, it's very marginal. The shift from his youth days, to his 30's and 1978 gets very confusing. There are times the issue of Meyer Lansky being Jewish is brought up in the film, but later it's simply forgotten. That's the scenes during his childhood and the 1978 scenes. Between that, nothing. All we see in the film is only about Lansky, but it would have been interesting to see what his friends and enemies think and mean about him. I'm losing faith in HBO movies.The verdict: 1.5 of 5 stars.