Michael Felgate (Hugh Grant ) is the terribly English auctioneer at an up-market New York art gallery and he`s in love with Gina, (Jeanne Tripplehorn). But when he proposes, in a Chinese restaurant, she rejects him, to his great surprise, not because she doesn`t love him, but because of her family. Her father, Frank Vitale, (James Caan) is a member of a mafia family, and Gina doesn`t want Michael to get involved with \"the family\". Michael, however, is willing to take the risk.
After a promising set-up, with a genuinely funny proposal scene in the restaurant, Mickey Blue Eyes goes downhill fast, mainly because of the weak screenplay by Adam Scheinman and Robert Kuhn which recycles all the old mafia jokes. James Caan, a wonderful actor, tries desperately to make something of his character, but fails - and when Hugh Grant is called upon to impersonate an out of town gangster, Mickey Blue Eyes, the results are deeply embarrassing instead of being funny. Jeanne Tripplehorn is completely miscast as the Italian American heroine, and James Fox is forced to do a boring caricature of a stuffy pom. After the success of Notting Hill, Mickey Blue Eyes is bitterly disappointing...
