Mikey and Nicky

I ordered this because I like Peter Falk and heard good things about Cassavetes but half way through I wanted it over. There's a reason why it was hard to find and other Peter Falk and Cassavetes films aren't.

This movie should be good... Cassavetes, Falk, Beatty, even a short appearance by M. Emmet Walsh. NO. This movie is a pieced together time waster with long drawn out conversations in a room, in a diner or on the street. When these conversations happen, they are uninteresting and end in some frenetic action, and then go right back into another place and another drawn out conversation. It's like watching the same thing over and over again for the first 2/3 of the film. I don't know how anyone in their right mind could find this film that great. I feel cheated, to be honest.

Cassavetes and Falk are excellent in this film. Unfortunately the film is let down by poor pacing, and poor production. Each scene is drawn out just that little bit too long. By the time we hit the 2nd act I was finding it hard to keep focused. It felt like the director was trying to string out a short into a feature. It's a pity because both leads gave excellent performances'. Cassavetes's character was getting incredibly annoying. I was rooting for him to get whacked after 45 minutes. I don't using complain about production value of 70's films. It was a LOT tougher back then. Mickey & Nicky had a sizeable budget though, and it looked terrible. There are much better Cassavetes films, such as "Gloria" & "The Killing of a Chinese Bookie".

This film stuck with me for a few days. Peter Falk (Mikey) and Cassavetes (Nicky) give powerful performances and the film makes one wonder 1) if Mikey intends to go through with his dirty job all along and 2) while Nicky seems to know intellectually that it is likely that his friend could betray him, does he believe it or not? When Nicky spontaneously takes Mikey to his mother's grave, it seems that it is not really to pay respect to his mother before he dies but rather to remind his friend that death is final and that if Mikey kills him he'll be killing an irretrievable part of his past. Nicky yells out, "Mom, if anything happens to me Mikey did it!!" This seems to force Mikey to think a bit more deeply about the job he's embarking on; it won't be so easy for him to see his job through to the end. But near the film's end, Mikey tells his wife a story from his childhood that Nicky had reminded him of in the graveyard--does Mikey tell his wife the story as it really happened? The film leaves room for interpretation, but one thing is clear; the night that Mikey and Nicky spend together they are both forced to face their shmuckhood--- not something that either of them are very good at. A must see, especially for Falk and Cassavete fans.

This film tells the story of a problematic petty thief who falls in danger after a questionable dealing with a mob boss. With minutes behind his hit man, he asked his gangster friend for help to bail him out one last time. Ultimately, his awful behavior takes a toll to their friendship and he is left to bail himself on his own. I have read a lot of reviews putting it high regard (even comparing it to the likes of the Godfather films and Scorsese gangster flicks) but it just did not do it for me. I mean I like the performances in here. It feels very organic and realistic compared to Cassavetes's work which seems to be the main inspiration of the film but it leaves you kinda detached to it. It just did not setup its character to be there with you throughout the film that by the end you could not care less about them. To conclude, the film would forever be remembered for May's directorial antics and not by its own merits. [2/5]

Dark, gritty and brilliant underrated/underseen buddy film. It's heart-string-tugging sensibility comes from the fact that it was written and directed by a woman (Elaine May), though in a near-perfect (and doubtlessly intentional) simulation of Cassavete's style. Falk & Cassavetes at the top of their respective & collaborative games.

Elaine May gives us a real portrait of friendship that hacks like Tarantino and LaBute could only dream of making. She doesn't get hung up on the hipness or the coolness of her characters. Mikey and Nicky are people she forces us to care about. They are reflections of ourselves, even if we have never been wanted by the mob. Elaine May gives us reasons to relate to and to sympathize with Mikey and Nicky, but she also shows us reasons to feel out and out disgust for them. Our decisions and emotions are not simple and our view of this characters cannot be one-sided. No one wears white. No one wears black. There is no right, no wrong. It's not about witty dialogue and unique and jaded perspectives on life. This film is life and it's not pretty and easy to swallow, but it is honest.

A great film! Though I have yet to see any of Elaine May's other films, I find that this one quickly puts her on an eccentric list of directors. Anyone who's a Casavettes (or Falk) fan must see. A nice tight character driven study. Oddly enough; might be grouped with Wings Of Desire (Wenders) and Requiem For A Dream (Aronofsky); though without the mystical elements. In fact, anyone who appreciates Aronofsky (PI, Requiem, etc.) might find this rather satisfying. Understood there were continuity glitches, but found these to be rather endearing; though I'm unsure whether May intended these to be illustrative of certain a character mindset or not. If this were the case I could also see a certain brief parallel to Momento (Nolan), which also brings in Insomnia. If any of these references ring a pleasant bell, find this film; it's worth it.

I decided to take a chance on this movie when I stumbled upon it in my neighborhood video store. I feel I should mention that I'm not a fan of Cassavetes' films, though I did know that he just acted in this movie and didn't write or direct. Cassavetes does give a good performance in the movie - in fact, all the other actors give good performances as well. Under the direction of Elaine May, the performances have a relaxed and unrehearsed feeling; at times I almost thought I was seeing real people caught by a hidden camera. May also captures the grit of an American city in the 1970s before things got cleaned up. Despite this good stuff, however, the movie eventually becomes somewhat tiresome. The Cassavetes character eventually becomes obnoxious and frustrating because we never really learn how he got into trouble. And after a time, you start to wonder where this thin story is going - you have to wait until the last half hour before the plot starts moving again. Not a terrible movie, but the script should have gone through a couple more rewrites before filming started.

I can't imagine why this movie rates as well as it does. Lame storyline, nasty characters that you feel nothing for, poor direction and horrendous editing. I've never seen so many continuity errors. How great talent like Peter Falk and John Cassavetes got involved with this production, is a mystery to me. They shot a million and a half feet of film for this, just imagine the content that didn't make it into the final cut!