Finally watched Amadeus, the 180-minute Director’s Cut, and honestly, it’s just too long. Maybe that’s the extended version’s fault, but I was checking the clock more than I expected to. A tighter cut might have helped.
It’s a good watch, and I did enjoy it, to be clear, but calling it a masterpiece is where we part ways. It’s overrated.
The music is genuinely good, no argument there, and F. Murray Abraham as Salieri is awesome, he sells every bitter, simmering moment. Tom Hulce as Mozart left me with mixed feelings. I think the overdone part came more from the direction than his acting, that manic giggling gets old fast.
I didn’t treat it as history, just as a movie, and as a movie it works well enough without ever blowing me away.
6.5/10: Worth seeing for Abraham and the soundtrack, but not the towering classic its reputation promises.
