Mickey Blue Eyes
Official Castle Rock Entertainment Site

Starring: Hugh Grant, James Caan, Jeanne Tripplehorn,
James Fox, Burt Young
Category: Romantic Comedy
Rating: PG-13
Released: 1999
Available for rental.

I understand why this movie didn't last long in theaters. Inconsistency, inanity, and incompetence do not make for long *in* theater. It was good as far as it went, which wasn't very far. Like a horse out of the gate that never makes it to the finish line. Here's the basic premise...

Witty Brit auctioneer Michael, played by Hugh Grant (Notting Hill), is dating mob boss' daughter and school teacher Gina, played by Jeanne Tripplehorn (The Firm, Waterworld, 'Til There Was You, Sliding Doors). Michael becomes "Mickey Blue Eyes" when he proposes marriage and meets THE family. James Caan plays Gina's father Frank, who provides the best performance of the film.


Grant cannot seem to decide between witty and bumbling. He's at home in front of an audience. He even shows advanced people skills by cracking jokes and keeping the auction attendees entertained. But Grant relapses into his usual stutter routine when things start falling apart. It's just too easy a transition, and shows a lack of character development. He should have started out bumbling - that would have been more believable. Around the time this film was released in theaters, Grant was quoted as saying acting scared him to death. It certainly showed in Mickey Blue Eyes.


This film as a whole also cannot decide between seriousness and comedy. The most real scene involves Michael and a character named Johnny, who comes after Michael at home. This scene is so out of place, that all I can think is maybe Elizabeth Hurley wasn't on set that day of filming. (Grant's real-life girlfriend was also the producer.) Because the rest of Mickey Blue Eyes is a shallow vehicle for demonstrating Grant's attempts at a Brooklyn accent and coming out the other side sounding like he's got an enormous speech impediment.


In a romantic comedy - as this film ostensibly holds itself out to be - there must needs be a chemistry between the principals. Usually the man and the woman, but here there was only chemistry between Grant and Caan. In fact, if they make another movie together I'll give it a try. Tripplehorn's Gina is reduced to a trite plot device. For a daughter of the mob, she starts out pretty sharp then sharply declines into a weeping creampuff. Gina says she want to keep Michael clean, that the family always sucks people in. But when it actually happens - when she's proved right, she falls apart just like dominoes. Caan is the only actor who did his homework and hits his mark every time. He's a restauranteur, "The La Trattoria", who belongs to an underworld crime family. And he's believable. Frank's not the boss, but he knows his business and handles himself competently.

This was a hugh - sorry, huge disappointment for a Hugh Grant fan. It's rated PG-13 for minimal violence, adult content, and language. Mickey Blue Eyes is hardly worth the rental price, so just "fuhgeet aboot eet."

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