Review of Prizzi's Honor (1985) by Blake P — 09 Feb 2012

Charley Partanna (Nicholson) is an unintelligent hit man for the Mafia, who suddenly falls in love wife the beautiful Irene Walker (Turner) at a wedding for one of his relatives. Irene plays the charade that's she's really a banker, when really she's an assassin.

When Charley eventually finds out, the two plan out a whole kidnapping plot, but when it goes awry when Irene shoots a cop's wife, things get more complicated. Things can't seem to get worse, but they do, when Charley's ex-wife Maerose Prizzi (Huston) gets the help from her dad (the don) to get Irene arrested, and in the process get her man back.

"Prizzi's Honor" is one of those movies that's been on my list of movies to see for a while now, considering it's gotten great reviews, loads of Oscar nominations, and good word-of-mouth.

Unfortunately, I really didn't enjoy this film. The reason I gave it three stars is solely due to the acting. Nicholson is great as usual, Turner as always is fine as a femme fatale, but Huston certainly stands everybody up with her excellent, Oscar winning performance.

They're all terrific, as is the writing and the direction, but there's just something about "Prizzi's Honor" that just did not click for me. While promised as a black comedy, I almost felt the comedy was so dark that it was barely even noticeable, and that made it come across almost like a gangster movie with a few awkward jokes.

Sure, James Bond can get away with inserting a few funny lines in its serious genre, but this film makes no exception. To make matters worse, the run time seems to drag on and on, considering the plot really is slow, and the film just isn't that entertaining.

"Prizzi's Honor" is good, but just not as good as I was expecting.