"Prizzi's Honor" is an odd, intriguing and somewhat puzzling gangster film, it borrows a lot to standards like "The Godfather", starting with a wedding, focusing on a big Italian family, yet it so insists on its seriousness I fail to perceive any hint of parody, and the line between black humor and plain family drama is so thin only Jack Nicholson's comical performance confirms that the film is meant to drain laughs more than anything, still, I was desperately waiting for a few laugh-out-loud moments. Maybe the whole project was meant as a long and big gag by itself, mocking the archetypes of a genre with a sort of operatic decadence, but I suspect it might leave many viewers cold.
I wish I could develop the former paragraph but this is as far as I can go trying to sound like all the distinguished critics, probably smarter than me, who raved the film, I didn't hate "Prizzi's Honor" but how this was praised as one of the best film of 1985, nominated for several Oscars while "Back to the Future" alone is a far better production, did I miss something? John Huston is one of my favorite directors, Jack Nicholson one of my favorite actors, yet the film had no savor, whatsoever, the comedic parts weren't that funny, the drama actually, the film doesn't even inspire me a review, I don't want to bash it not to praise it all, I just want to forget about it forgettable, maybe that's the word.
Forgettable among John Huston's filmography, the maverick director contributed to some of the most passionate and iconoclast portrayals of men facing the adversity of life with a temerity that transcend the status of losers to inner nobility, in "Prizzi's Honor", I couldn't care for any of these characters, their motives, their ambitions, their flaws or strengths suffered from a lack of focus from the script, to a point we couldn't get who was the heart of the story. Behind every great Huston's film, there is a man, and in no way, Charley Pattanna was in the same caliber of Huston's previous heroes. Granted it's a comedy, Burton in "The Night of the Iguana" or Bogart in "Beat the Devil" were far funnier, speaking of the latter, the film is as campy as Prizzi but it wasn't supposed to be regarded as one of the best of the year.
Had "Prizzi's Honor" been bashed y the critics, it would have probably increased its chances to become a cult-classic, to encourage viewers to look at what is so bad about it, which is the best way to find the hidden brilliance. But I blame the critics for having set the reverse mindset, people want to see what's so great about "Prizzi's Honor", only to end with a "huh" feeling. Is it good? Not that good. Not that bad either. In fact, what was it about? A hit-man who falls in love with a hit-woman, only to find out they have to kill each other, well, talk about spoiling the ending of the film, when the main premise only takes place at the end, the whole story turns to the slow build-up of a so-so punchline. What happens during the first act isn't without entertaining value, but I guess the veteran director, who'd die 2 years later, was tired enough, and this showed in the film that lacked direction.
I used forgettable for Huston, I'd use it for Nicholson, too. He is supposed to be the main protagonist, the one to root for, the first time I saw him in the film, I couldn't get away from the thing under his lip, was he supposed to imitate Bogart? It's Jack Nicholson, for Christ' sakes, he doesn't play characters, characters dilute in him, he's larger-than-life enough not to need a lousy disguise. The second viewing, I closed my eyes on the lip, then I realized that his accent was horrid, it wasn't badly done, but it sounded like he was drunk, slow minded, or simply retarded, no one talks like that, this is Nicholson's worst performance, almost Razzie- worthy. And they give him an Oscar nomination for that? Hello? Where was the Academy when Al Pacino played Tony Montana, granted his accent didn't sound Cuban but it couldn't have been worse than Pattana and at least the character communicated some energy.
Huston depressed me and Nicholson irritated me, and they're all among my favorite performers, when you're lead to these conclusions, there's not much left to be enjoyed, apart from Kathleen Turner's breathtaking beauty but she doesn't do much in her role. All right, there's the priceless running gag with the plane going back and forth from New York to Los Angeles, there's Anjelica Huston who saves the day by a solid performance only ruined by the ambiguity of her character's motives, and thank God, there's Charles Wickley who reinvents the character of a new Don without even thinking of playing Don Corleone, half-don, half Dracula, he oozes the relative tiredness of a man who sees the downfall of his family and can only count on Patanna, that's how desperate the situation is.
At the end, it's the frail little man embodies the very desperateness of the film, and it's the only real good thing about "Prizzi's Honor". Maybe I change my mind if I get older enough and contemplate the disillusions of my life that I appreciate the sights of scumbags taking their lives seriously, while realizing they're all nasty, cruel, ugly in their way, maybe the film inspired me the very nastiness that allows me to see it in a better light, maybe its dullness is brilliant to a certain way, flirting with uncertain caricature and gruesome black comedy. I only concede this to Huston because he never made an unintelligent and unsubstantial film, there's got to be something.
Still, I could have made it without that phony accent
I wish I could develop the former paragraph but this is as far as I can go trying to sound like all the distinguished critics, probably smarter than me, who raved the film, I didn't hate "Prizzi's Honor" but how this was praised as one of the best film of 1985, nominated for several Oscars while "Back to the Future" alone is a far better production, did I miss something? John Huston is one of my favorite directors, Jack Nicholson one of my favorite actors, yet the film had no savor, whatsoever, the comedic parts weren't that funny, the drama actually, the film doesn't even inspire me a review, I don't want to bash it not to praise it all, I just want to forget about it forgettable, maybe that's the word.
Forgettable among John Huston's filmography, the maverick director contributed to some of the most passionate and iconoclast portrayals of men facing the adversity of life with a temerity that transcend the status of losers to inner nobility, in "Prizzi's Honor", I couldn't care for any of these characters, their motives, their ambitions, their flaws or strengths suffered from a lack of focus from the script, to a point we couldn't get who was the heart of the story. Behind every great Huston's film, there is a man, and in no way, Charley Pattanna was in the same caliber of Huston's previous heroes. Granted it's a comedy, Burton in "The Night of the Iguana" or Bogart in "Beat the Devil" were far funnier, speaking of the latter, the film is as campy as Prizzi but it wasn't supposed to be regarded as one of the best of the year.
Had "Prizzi's Honor" been bashed y the critics, it would have probably increased its chances to become a cult-classic, to encourage viewers to look at what is so bad about it, which is the best way to find the hidden brilliance. But I blame the critics for having set the reverse mindset, people want to see what's so great about "Prizzi's Honor", only to end with a "huh" feeling. Is it good? Not that good. Not that bad either. In fact, what was it about? A hit-man who falls in love with a hit-woman, only to find out they have to kill each other, well, talk about spoiling the ending of the film, when the main premise only takes place at the end, the whole story turns to the slow build-up of a so-so punchline. What happens during the first act isn't without entertaining value, but I guess the veteran director, who'd die 2 years later, was tired enough, and this showed in the film that lacked direction.
I used forgettable for Huston, I'd use it for Nicholson, too. He is supposed to be the main protagonist, the one to root for, the first time I saw him in the film, I couldn't get away from the thing under his lip, was he supposed to imitate Bogart? It's Jack Nicholson, for Christ' sakes, he doesn't play characters, characters dilute in him, he's larger-than-life enough not to need a lousy disguise. The second viewing, I closed my eyes on the lip, then I realized that his accent was horrid, it wasn't badly done, but it sounded like he was drunk, slow minded, or simply retarded, no one talks like that, this is Nicholson's worst performance, almost Razzie- worthy. And they give him an Oscar nomination for that? Hello? Where was the Academy when Al Pacino played Tony Montana, granted his accent didn't sound Cuban but it couldn't have been worse than Pattana and at least the character communicated some energy.
Huston depressed me and Nicholson irritated me, and they're all among my favorite performers, when you're lead to these conclusions, there's not much left to be enjoyed, apart from Kathleen Turner's breathtaking beauty but she doesn't do much in her role. All right, there's the priceless running gag with the plane going back and forth from New York to Los Angeles, there's Anjelica Huston who saves the day by a solid performance only ruined by the ambiguity of her character's motives, and thank God, there's Charles Wickley who reinvents the character of a new Don without even thinking of playing Don Corleone, half-don, half Dracula, he oozes the relative tiredness of a man who sees the downfall of his family and can only count on Patanna, that's how desperate the situation is.
At the end, it's the frail little man embodies the very desperateness of the film, and it's the only real good thing about "Prizzi's Honor". Maybe I change my mind if I get older enough and contemplate the disillusions of my life that I appreciate the sights of scumbags taking their lives seriously, while realizing they're all nasty, cruel, ugly in their way, maybe the film inspired me the very nastiness that allows me to see it in a better light, maybe its dullness is brilliant to a certain way, flirting with uncertain caricature and gruesome black comedy. I only concede this to Huston because he never made an unintelligent and unsubstantial film, there's got to be something.
Still, I could have made it without that phony accent