MICKEY BLUE EYES
A film review by Christopher Null
Copyright 1999 Christopher Null
filmcritic.com
Hugh Grant hit paydirt once this summer, in NOTTING HILL. Can he
do it again if you take away Julia Roberts? And throw in an unlikely
comedy about murderous gangsters, an auction house, and a botched
wedding?
Yes he can! MICKEY BLUE EYES, against all odds, is nothing short of fall-down funny – on par with NOTTING HILL, SOUTH PARK, and AUSTIN POWERS 2 as one of the best comedies of the summer.
The plot involves Grant's milquetoast auctioneer, who, after three months of dating, proposes to his girlfriend (Tripplehorn), whom he doesn't realize is the daughter of a major New York Mafioso (Caan). Hilarity ensues when the mob family tries to rein Grant in for various money laundering schemes, dubbing him `Mickey Blue Eyes.' Enter the FBI, and accidental shooting, nocturnal shallow-grave burials, and a payback/revenge scheme, and you've got some pretty weighty elements here – but BLUE EYES usually makes the most of them all – in a comic sense, of course.
Don't be fooled: Grant carries this picture all by his lonesome. Tripplehorn is fine, but uninspiring. The mob guys are broadly drawn stereotypes. Caan is playing his usual tough guy and doesn't have a whole lot of screen time. With the exception of a few bizarre supporting characters (see also NOTTING HILL, again), Hugh Grant owns this show.
And therein we see what a comic talent he really is. Essentially, MICKEY BLUE EYES is a fish out of water tale, only the water finds the fish this time around. And watching this fish squirm is one hell of a good time.
RATING: ****
|------------------------------|
\ ***** Perfection \
\ **** Good, memorable film \
\ *** Average, hits and misses \
\ ** Sub-par on many levels \
\ * Unquestionably awful \
|------------------------------|
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Kelly Makin Producer: Elizabeth Hurley, Charles Mulvehill Writer: Adam Scheinman, Robert Kuhn Starring: James Caan, Hugh Grant, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Scott Thompson,
http://www.mickeyblueeyes.com/
Christopher Null - null@filmcritic.com - http://www.filmcritic.com Author - Network Administrator's Reference, 1999, ISBN 0-07-882588-1 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0078825881/filmcriticcom
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