Cast
Michael Felgate (Hugh Grant)
Frank Vitale (James Caan)
Gina Vitale (Jeanne Tripplehorn)
Vito Graziosi (Burt Young)
Philip Cromwell (James Fox)
Vinnie (Joe Viterelli)
Directed by Kelly Makin Written by Robert Kuhn and Marc Lawrence
Rated PG-13 for brief strong language, some violence and sensuality
Running Time: 102 minutes Distributed by Warner Bros.

Mickey Blues Eyes is an awful film that collapses on its dense script. Michael Falgate (Grant) runs an auction house in New York City and has met the love of his life, Gina (Tripplehorn). Michael proposes to her, but is surprised by Gina's fear of marrying him. Gina reveals to Michael that her father, Frank (Caan), is a big figure in the Mafia. Gina continues on to tell him that all of her past loves have become employees and helpers of her father. Michael then convinces Gina that he will stay clean and away from the Mafia and that their love will make everything great. However, Frank eases Michael into the world of crime, including money laundering and hiding murder victims. As the film progresses, Michael develops a fake identity as tough wiseguy "Mickey Blue Eyes" from Kansas City. Finally, Michael is left with an important decision of either saving his marriage or ratting out the Mafia.

Mickey Blue Eyes is a horrible copycat comedy off of similar but successful films in the past. It tries to establish the same entertaining medium of films like Married to Mob and Analyze This, but it just doesn't work in Mickey Blue Eyes since it seems that the film tries to be romantic, comedic, and dark. These three elements are very hard to mix and pull off successfully. It, however, does not work in this film; Mickey Blue Eyes just gets too far-fetched and falls flat.

The script is dreadful and vague. It is full of too many ineffective corny sequences, and it is also very predictable. An example of this is the final wedding reception scene, a very weakly written climax in which the audience already knows what is going to happen. It was as if the writers had no thought or creative originality.

The acting is also not that effective. James Caan has not delivered a good performance since Misery. He has lowered himself lately to only playing sleazeballs or villains like in Honeymoon in Vegas, Flesh and Bone, Eraser, and Bulletproof. His performance as Frank in Mickey Blue Eyes is perhaps the most pointless of his career. Surprisingly, Hugh Grant does not do that well of a job in this film. I really do like Hugh Grant and I believe he is a good romantic lead actor, such as in Notting Hill, but Mickey Blue Eyes was not a good film for Grant. The Italian accent that Grant tries to develop to pass as the wiseguy, " Mickey Blue Eyes," is very unrealistic and cheesy. Hopefully Grant will choose better roles and movies for audiences in the future.

Mickey Blue Eyes is really, like I said before, a horrible film. It has bad acting, bad developing, and, most of all, bad writing. I just didn't find anything funny or entertaining about this film. Infact, I was mostly annoyed with it.

Report Card Grade: F

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