Romance Comedy
SYNOPSIS: Hugh Grant, as Michael Felgate, elegant, debonair Englishman, falls in love with his wonderful girlfriend Gina, as played by Jeanne Tripplehorn, and is welcomed with open arms by Frank, her father, as played by James Caan. In time, however, Michael begins to realize that becoming part of Gina's family may indeed mean becoming part of The Family.
Have you noticed lately how James Caan has been mainly playing gangster parts? I remember when he used to sing and dance in movies, now he just tries to be a convincing tough guy gangster. Well at least in MICKEY BLUE EYES he plays a gangster with a heart. The film does come precariously close to imitating ANAYLZE THIS but it goes on it's own track. Obviously this film which is produced by Elizabeth Hurley(Hugh Grant's girlfriend) has been made mostly to give Grant a starring role.
The story is simple. Hugh Grant plays a stuffy Englishman who lives in the US nd sells art at an auction house. He is going out with Jeanne Tripplehorn who seems determined to keep Grant and her father, Caan apart. After he proposes marriage she runs away so he goes to meet the father at Frank’s restaurant in Little Italy. She finally tells Grant why she does not want him to see her family; that's because her family is A FAMILY. Rife with gangsters she does not want him to get invovled and corrupted by her family. The inevitable happens and as you can guess one favour leads to another and the next thing you know people are dying and to save everything he holds dear he becomes...Mickey BLue Eyes, a nortorious Kansas City gangster. Yes even though this film starts as a comedy and ends that way, it does haveit's dark side.
They eventually get married but it is not your average wedding as the groom must be killed by....nope I'm not going to spoil it. Go see the movie when it comes out.
There are many funny scenes in this movie but the ones where we see Cann trying to teach Grant to talk like a New York gangster are particularily funny. I've noticed that as Burt Young has shed his weight over the years he can be quite sinister looking when he plays the bad guy. The ethnic music is excellent in this film as is the overall story. Worth seeing for the laughs even though I doubt that it will ever become a classic. It's a romantic comedy you can't refuse.
