I found myself rather disappointed with this portrayal of boxer Jake La Motta’s life. The film draws from his autobiography, so its accuracy can be trusted to some degree, yet Martin Scorsese's direction didn’t connect with me. The familiar pairing of Robert De Niro as La Motta alongside Joe Pesci, who I consider one of the least adaptable performers I’ve encountered, playing his brother Joey, Cathy Moriarty in the role of his wife Vickie, and a group of Italian American actors brought to mind a significantly inferior version of "Midnight Cowboy" (1969). While those films are different – one isn't centered on boxing – I also question how much this film truly is. There’s surprisingly little actual boxing; although the fight scenes that do exist are filmed with impressive intensity, it largely unfolds as a soap opera, complete with profanity and instances of domestic violence which seem to reflect the attitudes prevalent in that New York community toward women. We see the expected elements of organized crime and rigged fights, but the whole thing feels strangely lifeless. I don’t have much respect for De Niro's acting abilities; like Pesci, he seems limited to a single approach, frequently drawing on his background and using colorful language alongside outbursts of anger. Occasionally, it resembles a TV movie; the black-and-white photography is overly sharp and polished. It appears to be aiming for an aesthetic that situates it in the late 1940s, but to me, it felt like a film from another era altogether. I’m probably one of few who feel this way; it was shown to a packed house recently and received applause afterward, but I can't understand the enthusiasm surrounding it.

Source on TMDB