Date: Fri 10-Sep-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Hugh-Grant-Caan-Tripplehorn

Full Text:

NOW PLAYING : A Little Worn-Out In Plot, But "Mickey Blue Eyes" Is Still Fun

By Trey Paul Alexander III

Hugh Grant, the fumbling Englishman who climbed the hill of stardom with Four

Weddings and a Funeral but came down a mountain of bad press regarding Divine

Brown, is riding high again after the success of Notting Hill , his film with

Julia Roberts from earlier this summer. But will audiences accept the often

bumbling leading man as a self-assured, "made guy"? Fuhgeddaboutit! Turning

the disarmingly charming Grant into a wiseguy would be about as convincing as

digitally inserting Jar Jar Binks into the role. But ask Grant to play a

fish-out-of-water tale in which he is a mild-mannered Brit in New York who

unwittingly gets "connected," then you might have something. Capiche?

Mickey Blue Eyes wants to make audiences an offer they can't refuse by casting

Grant as Michael Felgate, an auctioneer who finds he may become married to the

mob when his fiancee, Gina (Jeanne Tripplehorn), reveals that her father

(James Caan) is a "goodfella." Gina, concerned that the rest of the "family"

might corrupt her sensitive suitor, tries to rebuff Michael's proposals, but

he'll have none of that. Instead, he gets her to agree to help him make his

way through relations with the family, making sure no little "favors" are

asked or given, and keeping Michael out of situations that will have him

sleeping with the fishes.

On the originality scale, Mickey Blue Eyes rates about as high as some of the

worn-out cliches I've already trotted out this week. That's not to say this

comedy flick is completely ineffective, but it has an unusually steep, uphill

battle to wage, especially considering this year alone has already brought us

similarly themed works in Analyze This and HBO's The Sopranos.

As directed by Kelly Makin, Mickey Blue Eyes is curiously spotty, letting some

potentially winning moments go by too fast and letting other, less effective

bits linger much too long. As the manager of a small auction house, Michael

gets quite a few good laughs in his natural environment, especially once he is

forced to start unloading some dreadful paintings by one of his future

relatives. Especially funny, though a bit arbitrary, is a sequence involving

an elderly lady who decides she wants to get in on the world of art

collecting. Grant is quite clever in this prolonged bit as he tries to keep

her from buying one of these psychotic works.

Also effective are Grant's scenes with Caan, who could play this role in his

sleep, but thankfully puts much more energy than that into his performance.

However, their pairing is also one of the more disappointing aspects to the

film: they don't have enough scenes together. Grant doesn't get into his

Mickey Blue Eyes persona -- he sounds almost like a hilariously inept

combination of James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson -- until more than halfway

into the picture, and even then, it lasts for but two, albeit quite hilarious,

short sequences. It's almost as if the producers, which include Grant and

girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley, were concerned about milking this angle of the

film. Instead of becoming a one-note sketch, Mickey Blue Eyes cuts itself

short by not remaining with Grant and Caan's comic pair. The film seems to

hastily move on to the next plot point, which all too predictably brings in

the FBI.

Grant and company certainly offer up some entertaining moments, but the film

could have used a bit more focus and a few less tangents. This is one of those

rare cases where a Hollywood romantic comedy could have used less peripheral

elements and more of its stars just doing what they do best.

Mickey Blue Eyes is rated PG-13 for brief violence and occasional profanity.