A review by ross_maclean
Made Men: The Story of Goodfellas by Glenn Kenny

4.0

Genuinely insightful in all aspects of the film, from inspiration and adaptation to the meat and potatoes of getting it onscreen. The level of detail about the smallest aspect is glorious and Kenny’s access to many of the major players is admirable. Context is, of course, necessary but occasional protracted side-steps to discuss other Scorsese films lead down blind alleys and hamper momentum when you just want to get back to the matter at hand. The overall structure is nicely balanced (with the majority devoted to a scene-by-scene breakdown of the film, covering various and exhaustive aspects of said scene) but sometimes leads to repetitiveness when the same ground is covered in separate chapters. More than just a making-of; it wrangles real life (both the inspiration for the film and behind-the-scenes of the film) and analysis of what we finally see before us and how it got there.