Hugh's New Bid To Be a Hit Man

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

If there were still a British Empire, one could imagine Hugh Grant bestriding one of its far-flung ramparts, trying to bring order to unruliness. Mostly that would be a matter of self-deprecating humor, romantic chivalry, honorable business dealings, and, of course, irresistibly floppy hair.

Colonialism being at something of a discount nowadays, Grant is obliged to ply his undeniable charms in cross-cultural comedies like Mickey Blue Eyes. In it, he plays a Manhattan art auctioneer named Michael Felgate, in love with a schoolteacher (Jeanne Tripplehorn) who reciprocates his affections but refuses his engagement ring.

She has her reasons. They have names like Vito, Vinnie, Angelo and Ritchie, to say nothing of her father, Frank (James Caan), who runs a family restaurant in Little Italy. That's "family" in the full post-Puzo sense of the word. But Vito (Burt Young), who is the godfather here, sees opportunity in this alliance--a chance to off-load some of his talentless son's paintings and do a little money laundering via Michael's auctions. Before you know it, Michael has acquired his eponymous Mob nickname, is burying stiffs in Brooklyn and, finally, wearing a wire for a comically clueless FBI, whose forces include a hearing-challenged agent.

Director Kelly Makin has a gift for casually tossed-off farce. And along with Michael's bemused unflappability, his weird British conviction that somehow he will muddle through to a happy ending, that good-natured spirit carries one over some of the logical lacunae of the script by Adam Scheinman and Robert Kuhn. But not quite past the presence of Caan. It was only 27 years ago that his crazy volatility ignited The Godfather. Now he's almost beamish as a wary fixer. He's still funny, but his new characterization, like the success of The Sopranos and Analyze This, reminds us how quickly we have converted palpable menace to pure ethnic comedy. Is this progress? Not really. But in the context of Mickey Blue Eyes it's easy to fuhgeddaboutit.

--By Richard Schickel