SCARFACE ('83) | Full Movie | Movies Anywhere

What could have been a somber, depressing story has been kept buoyantly afloat by De Palma's wry, sarcastic look at grown men who wear expensive suits and shoot each other.

Scarface clearly lacks the suspense, macabre style and the deranged wit of previous De Palma films such as Carrie and Dressed to Kill. It is too slow for an action movie and too bent on destruction to make it for serious moviegoers.

Working from Oliver Stone's script, De Palma shapes a chilling, unpleasant but perversely entertaining portrait of the cocaine business. To his credit, its 2 hours and 45 minutes fly by like so many bullets.

Scarface is vile, sordid, dispiriting and degrading for all involved. It's major flaws, however, are its overall dullness and disorganization.