Mickey Blue Eyes (1999)

An English auctioneer proposes to the daughter of a Mafia kingpin, only to realize that certain "favors" would be asked of him.

Director:

Kelly Makin

Writers:

Adam Scheinman, Robert Kuhn

Stars:

Hugh Grant, Jeanne Tripplehorn, James Caan

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hugh Grant	...	Michael Felgate
James Caan	...	Frank Vitale
Jeanne Tripplehorn	...	Gina Vitale
Burt Young	...	Vito Graziosi
James Fox	...	Philip Cromwell
Joe Viterelli	...	Vinnie D'Agostino
Gerry Becker	...	FBI Agent Bob Connell
Maddie Corman	...	Carol the Photographer
Tony Darrow	...	Angelo
Paul Lazar	...	Ritchie Vitale
Vincent Pastore	...	Al
Frank Pellegrino	...	Sante
Scott Thompson	...	FBI Agent Lewis
John Ventimiglia	...	Johnny Graziosi
Margaret Devine	...	Helen, Michael's Assistant

Storyline

An art-house auctioneer finds himself getting in deeper and deeper with the mob after learning that his teacher girlfriend is the daughter of a major mobster. Things get worse when a godfather decides to launder his no-talent son's gory paintings through the art house and gets the FBI into the picture. Everything then falls apart when the son is accidentally shot.

---

Plot Keywords:

mafia | auctioneer | painting | mobster | fbi | 

---

Taglines:

A romantic comedy you can't refuse.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Crime | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language, some violence and sensuality

Details

Official Sites:

Castle Rock

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 August 1999 (USA)

Also Known As:

A keresztapus

Filming Locations:

Knickerbocker Bar & Grill -33 University Place, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$75,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£977,227 (United Kingdom), 22 August 1999, Limited Release

Opening Weekend USA:

$10,178,289, 22 August 1999, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$33,864,342, 21 November 1999

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$54,264,342, 31 December 1999

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castle Rock Entertainment, Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Simian Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

102 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

One of the mobster's names is Tony Two-Toes, which is the name of a mobster in Eraser (1996). The two films share several cast members, including Joe Viterelli, who played Tony in Eraser (1996).

---

Goofs

In the Chinese restaurant, Gina's fortune cookie plate jumps from being directly in front of her on the table to being in the middle of the table between shots.

---

Quotes

Gina Vitale: Just stop. Otherwise, I can't go on. Just run normally.
Michael Felgate: I am running normally.
Gina Vitale: Oh. Right. I'm sorry. I thought, you know... I guess I haven't seen you run before and I thought you were doing a funny run.
Michael Felgate: A funny run? That's my run.

---

Crazy Credits

As the movie ends, "THE THE END" is displayed on the screen. This refers to Frank's restaurant, The La Trattoria, which translates to The The Trattoria.

---

Connections

References Goodfellas (1990)

---

Soundtracks

Theme from A Summer Place
Written by Max Steiner
Performed by Percy Faith and His Orchestra (as Percy Faith & His Orchestra)
Courtesy of Columbia Records
By arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Not bad.

The previews that I saw for this movie promised it to be a very funny movie...and for the most part it was but it could have been better.

The movie is about a conservative British fellow (Hugh Grant) that runs an auction house in New York. He decides to propose to his girlfriend (Jeanne Tripplehorn) but she has reservations about marriage as her father has connections to the mafia. In her opinion, this marriage will not work as Grant's character will invariably be sucked into the organized crime life. He assures her that he won't and they decide to go ahead with the marriage. As you guessed it, Grant does become entangled and what ensues is a humorous "fish-out-of-water" comedy as Grant tries to get himself out of a mess.

For the most part, the characters were well played. Hugh Grant does a good job, albiet familiar to other characters that he's played recently (and probably not too unlike his real self) but it was nonetheless well played. Most of the humor revolves around his character and his ability to deliver the lines and timing is very well done. The same cannot be said for Jeanne Tripplehorn's character. She seemed to overact some scenes and others it seemed that she wasn't quite sure how to portray the character. At times, it almost made me feel uncomfortable trying to watch her find her role. James Caan did a very good job of playing the father and in some cases, he stole some scenes. The rest of the actors played their roles fairly well although many of these actors have been typecast as the mafia type character.

Although the movie was fairly amusing, there were places that it seemed to drag a little bit. A sign of a good movie for me is how much my mind wanders and this did happen in some places. In my opinion it could have been even funnier but in general it was pretty good. Overall, I found it to be entertaining and genuinely funny...7/10.