Very violent, but also very entertaining. Pesci, DeNiro, and Stone are great-also the supporting players- especially Rickles and Vincent. Pesci is the great little tough guy of our generation. The movie is certainly a drama, but there are also many comic components. I like the continuing interplay across several movies between Pesci and Frank Vincent. In Raging Bull, Pesci attacks Vincent. In Goodfellas, Pesci kills Vincent and buries him. In Casino, at the end, Vincent kills Pesci with a baseball bat and then "ships" and buries him. I believe most people like the violence- they just don't want to admit it.