VHS Memory Theater Review #5: My Blue Heaven
Purchase History: 2001 from Columbia House
My Blue Heaven was one of my favorite movies as a kid. For most of my childhood, most of the movies I watched were comedies. This was definitely a movie I watched all the time. Honestly, Italian American people are hilarious anytime I see them in a movie or on TV. That's part of why this movie works for me at least. Steve Martin plays Vincent 'Vinnie' Antonelli, a mobster tuned government witness who's in the witness protection program and is about to testify in an upcoming case. For the time being, he's living in a nice little suburb under the identity of Tod Wilkinson. He's playing a stereotype but it's a comedy, no one is looking for realism here. Rick Moranis plays Barney Coopersmith, the FBI agent who's assigned to protect him. After Vincent (now Tod) has been reassigned, his wife leaves him and finds no one or nothing he can relate to. Barney has lost his wife, a therapist, to a ballplayer. Soon, Vincent and Barney develop a friendship as Vincent helps Barney woo Hannah Stubbs, the district attorney (Joan Cusack) determined to put Vincent in jail. My Blue Heaven isn't breaking new ground. The humor is very subtle and it may make not make everyone laugh like it did for me, but when it's funny, it's really funny. I know this is just a comedy, but the whole "fish out of water" idea the film brings to the movie really resonated with me. I like that because I’ve often felt out of place in life much like Martin’s character in this movie. The whole idea of a mobster being forced to live in a suburban community is pretty funny. Steve Martin's pretty hilarious and fantastic as an Italian mobster and Rick Moranis is a perfect straight man to Martin. The music is great and it's a movie I'll admit I danced to as a kid. This movie has great soundtrack, a great script by Nora Ephron, and great direction by Herbert Ross. I love, love, love, love this movie. This is still one of my favorites.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Favorite Lines:
Supermarket Employee: Have a nice day.
Vincent 'Vinnie' Antonelli: Fuck you!
Vincent 'Vinnie' Antonelli: Arugula. I haven't had arugula in six weeks.
Supermarket Manager: What's that?
Vincent 'Vinnie' Antonelli: It's a vegetable.
Dr. Margaret Snow Coopersmith: Barney, look at the way you eat pancakes!
Wally Bunting: How does he eat pancakes?
Dr. Margaret Snow Coopersmith: He has a system for eating pancakes.
Barney Coopersmith: So the bottom pancake gets the same amount of syrup as the first.
Dr. Margaret Snow Coopersmith: He has a system for *everything*!
Vincent 'Vinnie' Antonelli: I am the worst case scenario of Thomas Jefferson's dream.
Vincent 'Vinnie' Antonelli: I never touched a gun in my life. That and that alone forever doomed me to middle management.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- How does this hold up? It’s even better. I laughed harder than when I was a kid. I love all the spontaneous dancing scenes.
Is it worth double dipping on DVD? Absolutely.
Would I recommend it? Yes. Yes. Yes. And yes again. If you love Steve Martin and Rick Moranis, you're going to love this.
Rating: 10
Happy
"The shoes...are tragic." This movie is fucking funny!