SnoopyStyle In 1975, Jimmy Hoffa (Jack Nicholson) and his lieutenant Bobby Ciaro (Danny DeVito) are nervously waiting in a parking lot. The movie flashes back to their first meeting on the side of the road. Hoffa convinces Ciaro to join the Teamster. Ciaro loses his job and joins Hoffa. With their strike failing, Hoffa makes a deal with the Mafia. D'Allesandro (Armand Assante) becomes his close mob ally. Hoffa rises to be the president of the Teamster all the while battling all comers. Robert F. Kennedy hounds him as RFK becomes Attorney General.Danny DeVito brings a lot of epic into the movie. It's a grand costume drama. He brings a lot of visual style. It looks like he threw a lot onto the screen. Some of it is the big performance from Jack Nicholson. He's really the deciding factor on whether to like this movie or not. I can certainly see both sides of the argument. On the one hand, it's an impressive big performance. On the other hand, he's doing only one note. I think it could be improved if they get rid of the make-up. Let Nicholson embody the role. Give him back his facial expressions. It keeps the audience from truly connecting with the character. The general public doesn't know what Hoffa looks like anyways.

rowmorg I don't care that the ending was fictional, because it was poetically correct. The life of Hoffa was poetical in its intensity, and the burning righteousness of the man comes through in this picture. Nicholson plays Hoffa excellently on his own terms, conveying the fearlessness of the man and his complex relationship to the mobsters who cashed in on his enormous pension fund by taking legal loans that Hoffa didn't skim. The climax of the story is genuinely tragic as Hoffa is persecuted by Bobby Kennedy, thrown in prison, and murdered by the mob when he gets out and tries to get his union, the Teamsters, back under his control. The motivation of Hoffa drives this picture and its a scandal that the film apparently never made a profit, presumably because of prejudice against unions in the mass-media. Hats off to Danny De Vito for putting up the money for this picture and for directing it and co- starring. His depiction of Hoffa's little lifelong under-man is fine. Altogether a high-minded and grand picture that held my attention for the duration, and moved me at the end. More American movies like this would help their cause no end.

t-obradovic I thought this was a great film, and I stress the word "film" because so many people are critical of "Hoffa" due to its lack of total historical accuracy. Its a movie based on a historical figure ,not a historical biography. Creative license was used to portray a man that while corrupt, was necessary for the American labor movement at that time. Many people owe Jimmy Hoffa a great deal of gratitude for the advancements he made for the "Working Man". This is often lost today because Jimmy Hoffa ultimately went down, and as we all know Americans love a winner. Danny Devito and Jack Nicholson were great. The DVD is well worth its price and contains some great extras, including some actual footage of Jimmy Hoffa and Robert Kennedy at the hearings in the late 50's. 9 out of 10 .

Terrell Howell (KnightsofNi11) It couldn't be easy to make a film about a man whose story has no ending. But Danny DeVito and David Mamet tackle just that story in Hoffa, a biopic about the legendary union leader Jimmy Hoffa. The film chronicle's Hoffa's beginnings and his eventual rise to fame and power in the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union, a union which eventually became the largest union in the United States. It leads all the way up to Hoffa's disappearance in 1975. The truth behind his disappearance is a mystery, but the film provides its own theory on what might have happened. Jimmy Hoffa was arguably one of the most interesting men in America during his glory days and Hoffa does a decent job at telling that story.The film is uniquely told through the eyes of Hoffa's best friend, Bobby Ciaro who is played by Danny DeVito, who also directs the film in his sometimes straightforward, sometimes offbeat style. Telling the story like this makes for an interesting narrative and gives the film a unique sense of style, telling the story of one man through the eyes of another. But what Hoffa really tries to accomplish is just telling the story. It focuses on getting all the details right and every important aspect of the story out there for all to see. What the film lacks is a lot of emotion or passion towards the subject matter. It's an exciting film and plenty enticing, but it isn't a robust dramatic telling of the life of Jimmy Hoffa. This is more of a well made documentary on Hoffa's life than a biopic.But don't get me wrong. Hoffa does the best it can from a purely storytelling aspect. The story is there and it is alive. It isn't always the most exciting adventure and it drags considerably at times. But it is a high quality film in specific aspects, namely acting and writing. It goes without saying but Jack Nicholson's acting is incredible and David Mamet's writing is superb. These are things that we've come to expect from these two gentlemen and Hoffa shows that they care about anything and everything they do. Danny DeVito also does a fine job in his role and the relationship between him and Nicholson is believable and compelling. Mamet's dialogue drives the film home and gives it its slick tongue and witty cadence. The film stands out in these aspects, but as a summation of all its parts it is nothing more than an interesting little look into the life of Jimmy Hoffa that we can enjoy as an informational piece, rather than a film.I enjoyed Hoffa but it is another of the many films I see that I wouldn't plan on seeing again. It makes for a good one time watch because now I know more about Jimmy Hoffa and the fascinating story that surrounds him. It's always fun to watch Nicholson act his head off and Mamet write himself to death, and Hoffa certainly delivers these things. It doesn't go much further than that, and it doesn't end up doing much more than hold my attention for a little more than two hours.