Mickey Blue Eyes

Mickey Blue Eyes is the latest star vehicle for Hugh Grant. He plays a foppish Englishman who keeps getting himself into awkward and embarrassing situations. The fact that this was produced by Elizabeth Hurley means we see Grant doing everything he did in Four Weddings and Notting Hill in a story bears that features him finding a beautiful woman, losing her and then getting her back. Deja Vu anyone.

I suppose it’s worth dealing with the specifics of the plot. Michael Felgate (Grant) is an art auctioneer who falls in love with the beautiful Gina Vitale (Tripplehorn). However his attempts to marry her are complicated by her father Frank (Caan) who is a true family man, in all the criminal senses of the word. Slowly but surely the law-abiding Michael gets sucked into Frank’s scams while his auction house starts to become a money laundering operation.

Many mocked this film for it lack of originality, especially in a summer of mob comedies with Analyse This and The Sopranos, however Hugh Grant does what he does very well. James Caan and the other mobsters, all of whom play identical parts in Analyse This, work as a great comic foil, especially in the restaurant scene when Grant tries to pass himself off as a mobster from the mid west.

There is little to fault this film as far as Hollywood offerings go. The pace is quick and jokes are consistently funny. There isn’t a weak link in the cast or a scene that fails. And if they aren’t good enough reasons to go and see a film, then you’ve probably had a sense of humour bypass.

David Goody