My Blue Heaven

For a film with as many missed plot opportunities as this one, MY BLUE HEAVEN is actually fairly amusing. The notion of a gangster adjusting to anonymity in suburbia is funny, but the film pays scant attention to this idea; instead, MY BLUE HEAVEN is really about Vinnie and Barney and their differing ideas of law and order. Still, the film manages to work about two-thirds of the time, largely due to the efforts of the cast. Moranis is well-suited to his role as the repressed Barney, and Cusack, like a high-school teacher from hell, with her pulled-back hair and stern, unflinching demeanor is wonderful as Hannah. (She's also one of the few actresses whose look can change from goofy to striking within a single film.) As Moranis's partner, performance artist Bill Irwin gets to show off his unique dance style; however, Carol Kane is wasted, given only about five lines as a woman Vinnie picks up in a supermarket and marries a few scenes later. As for Martin, he may not be the most likely actor for the part of Vinnie, but his exaggerated mannerisms aren't that out of place in a film that's basically an extended sketch. Although the script seems to lose track of the story in the second half of the film, when the plot is stretched a little thin, for the most part, this is an amiable comedy with some unexpected laughs.