Who knew Martin Scorsese would give cinema buffs so many things to debate in 2019? After the whole chatter about Marvel as cinema (or not), Scorsese now has fans arguing over The Irishman. His crime movie starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Al Pacino earned rave reviews from critics, and from the lucky fans who saw it in its early limited release in theaters. But now The Irishman is on Netflix, the great equalizer, and viewers have carved out some time over the Thanksgiving break to watch the movie.
Reactions to The Irishman have been strong -- and divided.
Many Netflix users are hailing The Irishman as a "masterpiece." But "boring" has been coming up as a trending term connected to the 3.5-hour movie as well.
Some fans of The Irishman dragged Marvel into the argument, believing some viewers didn't appreciate the film because they're so used to the MCU way of storytelling:
Not every critic of The Irishman used the word "boring" in their dismissal; this viewer, for example, used just about every other word:
Because the movie is 3.5 hours, fans are definitely talking about the length. Some viewers are even comparing the pee breaks you can take at home binging on Netflix vs. what they would normally do at a movie theater:
Some viewers argued The Irishman was too close to Martin Scorsese's past gangster movies. Others raved about The Irishman for its own merits. Fans have been calling out the actors by name, with some saying Al Pacino stole the movie, while others saying the same for Joe Pesci or giving Robert De Niro credit for owning the entire film. A few fans argued they would've liked to see even more:
But even some fans on the "masterpiece" side saw arguments for cutting a wee bit off that three-and-a-half-hour runtime:
You do have to be ready for The Irishman, though, as one fan discovered when they tried to sit their family down to stream the epic gangster film over Thanksgiving:
Yeah, The Irishman might not be the best T-Day viewing for the whole family. But for all the controversy over Netflix's limited theatrical release -- and debate over finding space in theaters for non-superhero movies -- it seems from here that the streamer was a great home for the movie.
That said, while The Irishman is still earning raves and "It's what it is" memes, there are always going to be people more in line with Elaine of Seinfeld, who famously hated the long and (to her) boring movie The English Patient:
Well, no one is right or wrong when it comes to a personal opinion on a movie. The Irishman, which had a pretty huge budget, now seems to be shaping up as a major contender for the 2020 Oscars ceremony. If you're curious for more, here's a look at how accurate the movie was compared to the real story. You can stream The Irishman now on Netflix.
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