Michael Keaton was in a bunch of funny flicks in the Eighties and this is one of them. I go for the parody stuff with quick quips and humorous sight gags, and as a fan of gangster films, this one clicked in more ways than one. I probably got the biggest kick out of actor Richard Dimitri doing the Roman Moronie bit with all the fractured malapropisms - "You fargin sneaky bastige!" Works for me every time.
So just as I was thinking that Keaton was giving it the old Jimmy Cagney swagger, news comes that D.A. brother Tommy (Griffin Dunne) and the governor plan on attending the latest Cagney release. I was anxious and hopeful that we'd get to see which one it was, and we do, although the timing of it wouldn't have worked for this movie. "The Roaring Twenties" came out in 1939, and the setting for this one was 1935 when Johnny (Keaton) relates his life story to the pet shop kid. Priscilla Lane's name was in the theater marquee along with Cagney's, so that made sense because she was second billed, but it would have been neat if Bogart's name appeared there too.
There's a lot of great back-up given the principals here; Maureen Stapleton is a sketch as Ma Kelly, while Peter Boyle and Joe Piscopo always entertain. I got a kick out of the family doctor (Carl Gottlieb) ratcheting up his bill for medical services performed on Ma as Johnny's fame and reputation grew as a mobster. The blocked salivary gland was a neat malady for $7500, I hope Ma was able to spit again.
Anyway, you'll have to catch this one to see the New York Yankees of Crime do their stuff, and Marilu Henner do her's. There's probably not a vermin here you won't like, and with any luck, it may keep you out of a life of crime.
So just as I was thinking that Keaton was giving it the old Jimmy Cagney swagger, news comes that D.A. brother Tommy (Griffin Dunne) and the governor plan on attending the latest Cagney release. I was anxious and hopeful that we'd get to see which one it was, and we do, although the timing of it wouldn't have worked for this movie. "The Roaring Twenties" came out in 1939, and the setting for this one was 1935 when Johnny (Keaton) relates his life story to the pet shop kid. Priscilla Lane's name was in the theater marquee along with Cagney's, so that made sense because she was second billed, but it would have been neat if Bogart's name appeared there too.
There's a lot of great back-up given the principals here; Maureen Stapleton is a sketch as Ma Kelly, while Peter Boyle and Joe Piscopo always entertain. I got a kick out of the family doctor (Carl Gottlieb) ratcheting up his bill for medical services performed on Ma as Johnny's fame and reputation grew as a mobster. The blocked salivary gland was a neat malady for $7500, I hope Ma was able to spit again.
Anyway, you'll have to catch this one to see the New York Yankees of Crime do their stuff, and Marilu Henner do her's. There's probably not a vermin here you won't like, and with any luck, it may keep you out of a life of crime.