“Goodfellas” is a brilliant gangster epic that feels like “The Godfather” with better writing. I liked “The Godfather” a lot but I always felt it was overrated while “Goodfellas” deserves all the praise it gets. It is a masterpiece from director Martin Scorsese (“Shutter Island”, “Silence”) that delivers pretty much everything you could want from a crime film.

“Goodfellas” tells the story of a real-life mobster, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta “Heartbreakers”, “Narc”). The film follows his journey from joining a gang in his youth to his eventual downfall. The movie also covers his relationship with his wife (Lorraine Bracco “Medicine Man”, “The Basketball Diaries”).

While Ray Liotta is great as Henry, some of the other performers steal the spotlight. Joe Pesci (“Home Alone”) is terrific as Tommy DeVito and Robert De Niro (“Heat”, “Meet The Parents”) is terrific as always as James Conway. The three really work well together and they are all very funny, especially Pesci. The best performance may actually come from Lorraine Bracco as Karen Hill. We really get to empathise with her and understand why she stayed in this hectic marriage where she is forced to hide weapons and drugs while he goes off having an affair. The chemistry between Liotta and Bracco is spectacular.

“Goodfellas” is funny, gritty and somehow just seems to perfectly capture organised crime. The movie is quite long and just filled to the brim with bad language but it works because the characters are so enjoyable and the dialog is so witty. When talking about the best gangster films, people will bring up “The Godfather”, “Reservoir Dogs”, “Pulp Fiction” and “Scarface” but “Goodfellas” is better than all of them. If you see only one gangster film then make sure you watch “Goodfellas” because Scorsese just manages to nail the subject matter and deliver one of the most entertaining pictures he has ever made.