Most critics respond warmly to Casino, with praise centred on Scorsese’s direction, the detail of the casino operations and the film’s account of Mafia power in Las Vegas. The reviews admire its period atmosphere and visual style, though the performances receive just as much attention. De Niro and Pesci draw strong notices, while Sharon Stone is repeatedly singled out for bringing emotional depth to the film. For its admirers, the detailed narration helps make a complicated criminal enterprise absorbing.
The disagreement concerns whether that technique sustains the personal drama. Reservations cluster around length, heavy voice-over and repetition, with a sizeable gap between the strongest praise and the dissent. The Los Angeles Times admires the opening account of casino operations but finds the ensuing drama exhausting and excessively violent. Time Out goes further, arguing that flashy technique sidelines the characters and makes the film feel like a tired return to GoodFellas.