HOFFA

 Not as bad as many people say but it's not good either. "Hoffa" certainly looks terrific, (Stephen H. Burum was justly Oscar-nominated for his cinematography), but despite a screenplay by none other than David Mamet it lacks heft and there are long dull stretches as it flits back and forth in time, (it's told in flashback), through the career of Union boss and mob associate Jimmy Hoffa, (Jack Nicholson in one of his least charismatic performances).

The director of the picture is Danny DeVito who also plays his life-long friend Bobby Ciaro but this is a film that needed a Scorsese and not a DeVito at the helm. There are some good set-pieces, again enhanced by Burum's cinematography, but the acting is all over the place and at two hours and twenty minutes it's far too long. Mamet probably hoped this would be an epic tragedy but he keeps missing the mark. It's certainly not a total write-off, (there's a great supporting turn from J.T. Walsh), but it still counts as a failure albeit an ambitious one with an ending that is pure conjecture.