Mickey Blue Eyes (1999)

Sadly Over-hyped

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Michael Felgate (Hugh Grant) is an art-house auctioneer who finds that the girl he wants to marry, Gina Vitale {Jeanne Tripplehorn} is the daughter of leading mobster, Frank Vitale {James Caan}. Initially thinking it will be OK if he doesn't do any favours for "the mob," Michael gets deeper and deeper in trouble to the point he not only might lose his girl, but also his life.Amiable and at times funny, Mickey Blue Eyes is the sort of safe comedy fodder to while away an afternoon with. Boasting a fine comic turn from Hugh Grant as the fop out of his depth, and boosted by James Caan kicking back and enjoying the fun, it's a film that could have been much better had it not run out of steam. The mob spoof picture is such a great premise to work from, but the main joke quickly wears thin. Just how long you can run with the normal guy in amongst the mob gag, will probably determine how much you eventually get from Kelly Makin's film. Grant is just about charming enough to keep the film on the decent side of average, and some well staged set pieces really hit the mark. But it's unlikely the ending will leave you anything other than unfulfilled. Mixed for sure, but hardly a crime against comedy. 6/10

Considering the concept of this, it could perhaps have been funnier. And if the ending was not as formulaic, unsatisfying and easy to figure out/obvious, that would have been just peachy. But what you get isn't bad. Caan, Grant, Tripplehorn, Young and Viterelli shine. Anyone who would call themselves a fan of one or more of aforementioned may want to consider giving it a look or three. This definitely has memorable moments of pure gold and hilarity. The jokes and gags tend to remain within the confines of what can be called good taste, without being boring. The whole Italian/mobster thing is played well, in spite of somewhat clichéd portrayals here and there. The pacing is good. The music choices are...interesting, but often nice and fitting. As far as mafia comedies go, you can certainly do worse, there are ones out there where you have to wonder why even one movie was made, much less a sequel(read: Analyze This series). I recommend this to all who think this sound appealing. There are scenes in this that can leave you in stitches. It's really too bad both of them are within the first half hour or so. 6/10

In 1999, although I didn't actually see this mob spoof, I heard the line, "fuggedaboudit," was told where that line came from, and saw the trailer for the movie. I didn't actually see "Mickey Blue Eyes" until 2006, and by then, I knew it wasn't the most highly acclaimed comedy of all time, so I wasn't expecting to be blown away. However, I was hoping for at least a moderately funny spoof movie, and from what I remember, that was what I got. About 2 ½ years later, I've seen it a second time, and while I was still entertained by a good chunk of the film, it may not have been quite the same as before.Michael Felgate is an art auctioneer from England who currently resides in New York, and is dating a teacher named Gina Vitale. He wants to marry her, but doesn't know about her family! She has relatives, including her father, Frank Vitale, who are members of the Mafia, and this is why she turns down Michael's proposal, as she is afraid that if they marry, he will be lured into the world of organized crime! Michael promises not to let that happen, but this is easier said than done! After they are engaged, Michael finds himself involved in a money laundering, and finds himself questioned by suspicious FBI agents, but he must play along with this scheme in order to survive! It gets worse when Gina accidentally kills the son of a mob boss, and Michael decides to take the blame! The first scene in the film that stands out as really funny to me is the one where the owner of a Chinese restaurant stands at the table where Michael and Gina are sitting, and makes sure Gina eats her fortune cookie. For quite a while, the film goes fairly steadily, sometimes mildly amusing, and sometimes more than that. Another major comic highlight I can't forget is Michael having to pose as a gangster known as "Kansas City Little Big Mickey Blue Eyes" and having to try and speak with a New York Italian accent! The humour is not enough to carry the film, but there is also suspense, which definitely helps. For probably most of the film, it looked like my second viewing would be like my first, but I found that it started to lose its charm towards the end, I'm not sure why, but I was not left fully satisfied. Anyway, I would say this movie certainly doesn't fail miserably as a comedy, but as such, it certainly could have been funnier, though the story and suspense often makes up for that. There are much worse comedies out there, but I can see why "Mickey Blue Eyes" isn't as popular as "Analyze This", a mob spoof which came out the same year.

I really disliked this comedy--mostly because it just wasn't funny and Hugh Grant's performance was so forced and unbelievable. And this difficulty in his performance (I'll make no gratuitous jokes about his arrest) is due to the awfulness of the script and that he is asked to play way outside his range.Hugh is getting married, but his fiancée (Jeanne Tripplehorn) has a secret. She's the daughter of a big-time mobster (James Caan--who looks kind of weird in this film--what's with the makeup?)! Well, instead of finding this out and flying back to Britain (that would have been best in the long run), he sticks around because he loves her so much and he knows it will work out fine. It doesn't and I knew it wouldn't when, for laughs, he tries to talk like an American mobster--the comedic low-point of the film. It only got worse from there and I could tell by his pained expression that Grant desperately wanted the film to end.I recommend this film to no one. Neither dogs, children, adults or penguins--NO ONE! It's frightfully dull and unfunny and it's tough to spend as much money as the studio did and come up with THIS!