Once Upon a Time in America

Data
Title: Once Upon a Time in America
Year: 1984
Length: 229 minutes
Director: Sergio Leone
Writers: Leonardo Benvenuti, Piero De Bernardi, Enrico Medioli, Franco Arcalli, Franco Ferrini & Sergio Leone, with Stuart Kaminsky, based on a novel by Harry Grey
Starring: Robert De Niro, James Woods, Elizabeth McGovern
Music: Ennio Morricone
Distinctions: currently #90 on IMDb's Top 250

My reaction
Synopsis: the life of a mobster who doesn't like bosses
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Concept: Bad.
Story: Indifferent.
Characters: Indifferent. They have depth, but I don't like them. All of the leads are completely and unforgivably despicable.
Dialog: Terrible. See all those Italian names up there under "writers?" It shouldn't be surprising that the English dialog is crap.
Pacing: Terrible. The characters just... stare at each other, for the longest times. In Leone's Westerns, this was brilliant, and made for the best action scenes of all time. In this context, where there is zero suspense, it's unbearable.
Cinematography: Great.
Special effects/design: Great. The make-up, making a 40-year-old Robert De Niro look like he's in his 20s in some scenes and his 60s in others, is pretty impressive.
Acting: Good. It varies wildly throughout the film. There are places where the dialog is delivered very strangely and unnaturally, which I'm forced to assume is the result of a perfectionist director who doesn't speak English. Other times, it's exceptional.
Music: Indifferent.
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad). My wife says, "I would like someone to explain to me why this movie is critically acclaimed." Every now and then, characters will do something or talk to each other or something of that nature. When that happens, it's okay. It doesn't happen often.
Objective Rating: 1.9/4 (Eh).