Review of Romance & Cigarettes (2005) by Maxwell D — 02 Mar 2008

I really wanted to like this movie. I am a huge fan of James Gandolfini (plus he's just a gorgeous man in my opinion) and Kate Winslet and Susan Sarandon are two great actresses. I am a fan of John Turturro as an actor, but it is painfully obvious that I am not a fan of his writing and directing.

This film comes across like a string of half-baked ideas that never leads to any kind of narrative structure, which would be fine if it weren't trying so hard to come across as a film wanting narrative structure.

One of the two stars I'm giving this film goes to James Gandolfini for his performance; the other to the couple scenes that I lightly chuckled at (which not surprisingly I don't even remember now).

If you like Mr. Gandolfini as much as I do, sit through it once. If not, you're better off steering clear. A true disappointment.