Billy Bathgate [1991]

This comes across as a poor-man's Bugsy- though the gangster film had been definitively rendered a genre that almost had litle mileage left after such iconic greats as Once Upon a Time in America, Goodfellas & Scarface. The structure appears to be initially quite interesting, but all this is put out the window by hammy performances from Dustin Hoffmann and Bruce Willis. The anodyne child who plays the new buck on the block makes Chris O'Donnell seem like prime Pacino. Terrible: go straight to the Dead Poet's Society and do not collect 200. Wonderfully shot and with an excellent performance from Nicole Kidman (who bravel bares all), this film is still not something to go out of the way to watch. Best stick with Doctrow's excellent novel methinks..