Amazon.com
Mickey Blue Eyes was crafted as a vehicle for the stammering British charm of Hugh Grant (star of
Four Weddings and a Funeral and
Nine Months), so whether or not you like the movie will depend heavily on your affection for Grant. He plays an art auctioneer who falls in love with schoolteacher Jeanne Tripplehorn (
Basic Instinct,
Very Bad Things), who just happens to be the daughter of mobster James Caan (
The Godfather,
Misery). To protect Grant, Tripplehorn tries to fend off his proposal of marriage, but some miscommunications lead to Grant being embraced by the "family." After the mob decides to launder money through Grant's auction house, an accidental killing results in Grant pretending to be Mickey Blue Eyes out of Kansas City (the sight and sound of Grant trying to say "fuggedaboudit" was undoubtedly what sold the movie in the first place). The plot isn't as well executed as it could be, but the leads are all well cast and there are some excellent supporting performances, particularly Burt Young (
Rocky) as a myopic mob boss and Scott Thompson (from the comedy troupe The Kids in the Hall) as a sprightly FBI agent.
--Bret Fetzer
Michael (Hugh Grant), a polite Englishman working in New York, falls in love with Gina (Jeanne Tripplehorn), the daughter of a soldier in a Mafia family, which proceeds to get its hooks very deep into Michael. It's a good comic premise, but the screenwriters, Adam Scheinman and Robert Kuhn, and the director, Kelly Makin, can't liberate the jokes from an excessively complicated plot. Tripplehorn is too earnest for comedy, and Grant isn't used very well-the whole bit about his attempt to pronounce "fuhgeddaboudit" is feeble, rather than funny. As aging Mafiosi, James Caan and Burt Young, both underacting, have some wonderful moments. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006
The New Yorker