MICKEY BLUE EYES
Grant plays Michael Felgate, an auctioneer at Cromwell's New
York art house. His girlfriend Gina (Jeanne Tripplehorn), to whom
he's about to pop the question, is the daughter of mob heavyweight
Frank Vitale (Caan). Gina has been reticent to introduce Michael
to her notorious family for fear he would leave her, but Frank
welcomes him with open arms. In fact, he becomes so friendly with
them that Gina thinks he might become corrupted and start doing
business with them. "One little favor, one little lie, and
you're theirs," she tells him.
Michael promises not to get involved, but sure enough, he's
soon pressured into showing the atrocious artworks painted by
Johnny Graziosi (John Ventimiglia). Johnny is the son of Frank's
brother, the powerful and influential Vito Graziosi (Burt Young,
best known as Paulie in the Rocky movies). Next thing you
know, Johnny gets shot in a freak accident at Michael's apartment,
and Vito is out for blood. In an outlandish scheme to protect
his relationship with Gina and proceed with the marriage, Michael
must masquerade as a goodfella, faking a terrible New York accent
and trying to fool various big time bosses.
This movie, written by Adam Sheinman and Robert Kuhn and directed
by Kelly Makin (although Grant himself manned the megaphone for
some scenes), would surely have had better effect if it had not
followed so closely on the heels of last March's Analyze
This, which had bigger names (Robert DeNiro and Billy
Crystal) and better chemistry between those two leads. Timed as
it is, Mickey Blue Eyes tends to look like a cheap re-hash
of the idea, even though it actually has some better supporting
performances (Tripplehorn is leagues better as the female lead
than Lisa Kudrow; Young's performance, while nicely subtle, is
almost too serious for the film). Director Makin obviously didn't
do much to distance his project from the other film, applying
the same tone and pace, and even using some of the same actors
in supporting roles. The story is remarkably unbelievable and
the ending eminently predictable.
As for Grant and Caan, well . . . they show moderate energy, but they could play these parts in their sleep. With no new innovations in character, their roles in Mickey Blue Eyes will undoubtedly go down as some of their more forgettable. **½