REVIEW: Once Upon A Time in Hollywood

DiCaprio and Pitt do a whole lot of acting, talking and smoking.

For all but the most squeamish, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood is a great way to spend two hours and 39 minutes. One reason is a grand performance by Leonardo DiCaprio, an actor who's been blowing our minds since his 1993 portrayal of a mentally challenged teen in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination. Surely he will get another one for this, along with director Quentin Tarantino.

If you're looking for the plot, it's out there. Every professional film critic reveals it in stunning detail, which to my mind is not the purpose of a review. Rather, I'm interested in learning what's good or bad about a film: Are the acting, directing, musical score and cinematography worth my time and money? In this instance the answer is yes, yes, yes and yes.

At first the story comes off as a goofy hodgepodge of Hollywood in the 1960s, and as anyone who lived through that era will attest, it's a perfect capture of the sights, sounds and especially cars of that crazy time. Also, there's a whole lot of cigarette smoking going on. But hang on; since this is Tarantino there's a healthy dose of blood and gore, although it's mostly limited to the last 20 minutes during a loose retelling of the horrific crime committed by members of the Manson Family.

It's a comedy nevertheless, and DiCaprio more than delivers as an actor past his prime struggling to hold on to a few rays of the limelight. Sharing the lead is Brad Pitt. Playing his usual handsome, smirking self as DiCaprio's stunt double and sidekick, he naturally finds an opportunity to take his shirt off and display his amazing pecs. Margot Robbie as doomed starlet Sharon Tate is featured, and memorable cameos by a pudgy Al Pacino and and a wizened Bruce Dern add to the mayhem.