First reactions to ‘The Irishman’ call it an instant classic
The first reviews for The Irishman have started to emerge out of the New York Film Festival, and it has been heaped with praise, with some even calling it an instant classic.
Not only have various critics noted that its mammoth 3 hour and 29 minute running time goes by in a flash, but Brett Arnold also pointed out just how hilarious it is, while insisting that it is “an instant Martin Scorsese crime classic that’s everything you want it to be, and more.”
THE IRISHMAN: An instant Martin Scorsese crime classic that’s everything you want to be, and more.
De Niro’s best work in ages, Pesci lights up the screen, and Al Pacino as Jimmy Hoffa screaming about the Kennedys is the peak of cinema!— Brett _________ (@BrettRedacted) September 27, 2019
THE IRISHMAN is laugh-out-loud hilarious throughout, occasionally very violent, and then profoundly, deeply sad. Marty did it!!!!
— Brett _________ (@BrettRedacted) September 27, 2019
Variety’s Kris Tapley remarked that “it’s far more than another gangland notch on Scorsese’s belt,” and instead called it an “America epic concerned with profound moral decay and a lifetime’s festering regret.”
Read More: Robert De Niro's de-ageing in 'The Irishman' revealed in new Netflix trailer
I love THE IRISHMAN so much because it’s far more than another gangland notch on Scorsese’s belt. It’s an American epic concerned with profound moral decay and a lifetime’s festering regret. De Niro is sublime. Pacino is electric, with Pesci the calming foil. And it flies by!
— Kris Tapley (@kristapley) September 27, 2019
Indiewire’s film critic Eric Kohn said that The Irishman feels like a Martin Scorsese “greatest hits album,” which he insists is meant as a compliment, and should immediately make fans of Goodfellas, Casino, Mean Streets, The Departed and The Wolf Of Wall Street very, very excited.
THE IRISHMAN is like a greatest hits album from a master of the medium. Yes, that’s a positive.
The artifice of de-aging is more feature than bug.
It’s not “slow.” It often moves like lightening & elsewhere it’s downright Bressonian.
This is not a review! Those are embargoed.— erickohn (@erickohn) September 27, 2019
Jordan Ruimy, the editor in chief over at World Of Reel, highlighted Al Pacino’s performance as Jimmy Hoffa, declaring that the Oscar winner “towers over” the work of Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci with his “funny, sad and haunting” work.
THE IRISHMAN: Think GOODFELLAS, but directed by the man who gave us SILENCE. A culmination, meditation and tribute to every Scorsese/De Niro/Pesci collaboration. And yet, Al Pacino towers over all of them with a funny, sad and haunting performance as Jimmy Hoffa.
— Jordan Ruimy @ #NYFF (@mrRuimy) September 27, 2019
Read More: Martin Scorsese's 'The Irishman' will be his longest movie ever at three and half hours
Ed Douglas even went as far as to declare that The Irishman is now an Oscar front-runner, and predicted that the upcoming race will be between Martin Scorsese’s latest and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
I'm calling it.. this year's Oscars will be all about Scorsese vs. Tarantino... and #TheIrishman will win five Oscars...
— Edward Douglas (@EDouglasWW) September 27, 2019
The Irishman will premiere at the London Film Festival on October 13, before being released on a limited amount of cinemas on November 8. It will then be released on Netflix on November 27.
