Director: John Turturro
Rating: 10/10
This is a surprisingly original musical romantic comedy released in 2005, but not released in the United States until this year. And what a shame it is to have buried this movie for over two years. The cast includes James Gandolfini, aka Tony Soprano, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Steve Buscemi, Christopher Walken, Mandy Moore, Mary-Louise Parker, and other familiar faces for cameos. It is not surprise that many of those actors are New Yorkers, because you really need New Yorkers to be in a movie directed by a New Yorker about New York.
The story revolves around Gandolfini’s character who is caught, with a love poem about something hilarious I should let you discover for yourself, having an affair with a young red headed Irish woman (Winslet). His wife (Sarandon) chases him out of the house and they both take action and advice from their friends and relatives, most prominently Walken and Buscemi with comical results. The movie dove headfirst into a plot filled with unbelievable events that will have you falling in love with the implausibility.
Being a musical, one of the most pleasurable parts is the awesome music that the cast sings along. And it’s not like Bollywood films that have characters sing and dance for no good reason, the songs here are relevant to the lives of the characters. Of course, there are pieces that are not songs, such as Johann Sebastian Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in church, which is kind of ironic because that piece always sounded vampiric.
The acting is superb, especially from Christopher Walken, who never seems to disappoint no matter what movie he’s in, the way he talked in this movie was just funny because his character did not realize how funny it was what he just said. Kate Winslet, who has a great bed-screaming scene that can make any woman/man jealous, brightens up the screen whenever she’s on. Steve Buscemi’s presence in this movie is also priceless. There is a scene in which he met Gandolfini’s mother who talked about her son getting an adult circumcision and her quite messed up family. All while she was talking, Buscemi’s facial expression was in such a way that it’s impossible not to laugh.
John Turturro really did and outstanding job directing this movie, and it is not hard to see Joel and Ethan, the Coen Brothers’ fingerprints all over this movie as they were the executive producers, and if you know anything about the Coen Brothers, you know they have a wicked sense of humor that never failed.
The movie oozed with originality even as it borrowed elements here and there. You would walk out of the theater rejuvenated. It is such a fresh film that some people might say it’s implausible and outrageous. They are right, but that’s no reason not to love this movie. And somehow, the movie goes from its outrageousness back to earth so smoothly and poignantly it’ll make you feel exhilarated about how good this movie really is.
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