Til death do them part.
(1999) Comedy (Warner Brothers) Hugh Grant, James Caan, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Burt Young, James Fox, Joe Viterelli, Gerry Becker, Maddie Corman, Tony Darrow, Paul Lazar, Vincent Pastore, Frank Pellegrino, Scott Thompson, John Ventimiglia. Directed by Kelly Malkin
Hugh Grant was on a bit of a winning streak in 1999. First, the captivatingly charming (and box-office smash) Notting Hill which was followed by this low-key underrated romantic comedy.
Grant plays Michael Felgate, a dapper, suave man who auctions fine art in New York City. He’s got a successful business, and he’s about to propose to his gorgeous girlfriend Gina (Tripplehorn), with whom he is madly in love. It’s a sweet moment and of course that’s when things begin to go horribly wrong.
Gina turns down his proposal, initially, and runs off in tears. Mystified, a despondent Michael seeks out her restaurant-owning dad (Caan), whom he hadn’t met before, to see if he can locate the distraught Gina. The two hit it off immediately and Dad is eager as all get out to make Michael one of the family. Trouble is, what Caan and his Uncle Vito (Young) really have in mind is to make Michael one of The Family. Gina warns Michael about this, but Michael wins her over with a promise not to get sucked into their criminal activities.
Naturally, he immediately gets sucked into their criminal activities, and things go rapidly downhill from there. In order to cover up his broken promise, Michael is forced to lie to his fiancée, which leads to further complications. Eventually, Michael runs afoul of the wrong people and his family is chosen to whack their new son-in-law. At the wedding. This is not what you would consider For Better. For worse maybe…but taking til death us do part a little too seriously.
The movie is surprisingly funny as the ever-stammering Grant tries to take on the persona of a made man, trying not to sound like the sophisticated Brit he is. Grant is at his most endearing in these sorts of roles; he’s a bit stiff and a bit awkward but at his core is a good man caught up in a bad situation. The fish-out-of-water element is played up nicely as Grant stumbles over things as simple as keeping his gun in his belt. One of the running jokes here is that many of the mobsters have neuroses, in a sly jab at the HBO series “The Sopranos.” Finally, the ending is a swerve you can see a thousand miles off, but which is approached creatively and is appreciated all the more for it.
Mickey Blue Eyes is a bit of a satire of Scorsese’s mob movies, but never loses sight of its romantic agenda. Grant is a very appealing lead at the top of his game here, coming shortly after his apology tour, as Letterman put it. His charm was growing with every movie he made. This movie didn’t get a lot of acclaim at its release not did it get a whole lot of box office love; it deserved more.
These days the movie shows up on cable and broadcast regularly. It straddles the line between romantic comedy and caper comedy and doing it nicely. It remains one of Grant’s career disappointments in many ways which is sad because the movie is so much better than critics and the audience gave it credit for.
WHY RENT THIS: Grant at the top of his game. Straddles romantic and caper comedy lines nicely. Sweet and funny.
WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: Predictable. Cliche. Too Hollywood.
FAMILY MATTERS: There’s some bad language, a little bit of violence and some sensuality.
TRIVIAL PURSUITS: Several members of “The Sopranos” cast are here; in addition to Pastore, Aida Turturro, Tony Sirico, John Ventimiglia and Burt Young all had roles in the award-winning HBO series.
NOTABLE HOME VIDEO FEATURES: None listed.
BOX OFFICE PERFORMANCE: $54.3M on a $75M production budget; the movie was a box office bomb.
COMPARISON SHOPPING: Married to the Mob
FINAL RATING: 7/10
NEXT: Wreck-It Ralph
Cinema365 