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When a whole lot of his contemporaries were dead or in retirement, John Huston was still making some very good movies and even winning Oscars for family members. Prizzi's Honor was kind of a coda to his career having directing his father Walter for Best Supporting Actor for The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre in 1948, in 1945 daughter Anjelica Huston wins for Best Supporting Actress in Prizzi's Honor. That's a feat that will really be hard for any director to duplicate.

The Prizzis are your Eighties version of the Corleones, a Mafia family headquartered in Brooklyn with far reaching interests including Las Vegas like the Corleones. Jack Nicholson is Charlie Partanna, not the most polished knife in the drawer, but one of the sharpest. Mafia families inbreed more than royalty or hillbillies and Charlie's expected to marry Maerose Prizzi who is played by Anjelica Huston, the ultimate Mafia princess. He's practically been raised to be her prince consort.

But one look at the beautiful and sophisticated Kathleen Turner and Nicholson's hormones are at light-speed overdrive. But Kathleen's got a secret or two as well. She was in on a scam that took $720.000.00 from the Prizzis in Las Vegas. And in a real bow to women's liberation, something indeed from a tradition bound organization like the Mafia, she's also a hit woman with a contract on Nicholson.

Some 20 years before those marrieds Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie were trying to bed and kill each other simultaneously in Mr.&Mrs. Smith, Nicholson and Turner were going at it, tongue and gun. John Huston after 30 years finally repeated a black comedy, a much better black comedy than Beat The Devil.

Besides Anjelica's win, Prizzi's Honor was up for several more Oscars in 1985 including Best Picture, Best Actor for Jack Nicholson, Best Supporting Actor for William Hickey, Best Director for John Huston and others. Prizzi's Honor is the kind of film where the jokes sneak up on you, don't expect belly laughs, but minutes after something is said, the line will kick in.

And Prizzi's Honor was a great film to have to your credit in the twilight of your career for John Huston.

I loved this film when I saw it in 1985. To see it again after seeing film and series like the Godfather, The Soprans etc is a treat. It is a lovely film, elegant,well-played with a with lots of humor. Jack Nicholson pays the not very intelligent Charley Partanna with flair and a lot of humour. Kathleen Turner is beautiful as ever. The rest of cast is also very good. John Rudolph playing his charing but very dangerous father, Angelica Huston is magnificent as the deserted MaeRose who wants to revenge Cahrly but still loves him. The music is very much a part of this intelligent film. It is a joy to listen to how it comments or highlights what happens in the film.

It is a loving parody of the mafia genre. A must-see for any one who likes this genre and for film lovers everywhere.

Once I had a little context, I enjoyed it.

It's not your typical mob movie. And maybe not typical anything else.

Comes from an author who writes satirical books about abuse of power. Known for The Manchurian Candidate. And this.

So this is a satirical mob movie. But the satire is watered down some in the movie compared to the book, apparently.

Watching it with that lens, knowing some of it is kind of a subtle/wry/dark humor, sort of making fun of the mob with these over the top characters and plot lines... It actually becomes quite funny. And fun.

And Jack Nicholson's character is well done I think. As well as his main love interest.

So if you can handle all of that...

8/10.

So many films glorify the mafia, even those like 'Goodfellas' which pull no punches still allow a residue of glamour to stick to their portrayal of the wise-guy life. So 'Prizzi's Honor', which ridicules its protagonists and shows them to be anything but wise, is a welcome sort of mafia film. Unfortunately, although it's reasonably entertaining, the film ultimately doesn't wholly succeed in any respect; too daft to work as black comedy, too slow to work as riotous farce, to humorously conceived to work as tragic drama. Jack Nicholson is good as the dumb hit man Charley, but the plot leaves us unsure whether we should laugh at him or cry with him, and in the end I felt inclined to do neither. Personally, I prefer Jim Jarmusch's 'Ghost Dog', another offbeat look at organised crime.

I am not a huge fan of gangster movies even tho there are some masterpieces of the genre. And this was the main reason why I wanted to try this movie. However I didn't loved it but I found it just ok.

Charlie Partanna (Jack Nicholson) is a professional hitman that works for a Mafia clan led by Don Corrado Prizzi. One day he goes at a wedding and becomes infatuated with a gorgeous woman named Irene Walker (Kathleen Turner). They arrange a meeting and fall in love. After a while he finds out that she, too, is an hitwoman. And of course there is also the mob that orders them to kill each other when they have separate meetings. How it will unfold? Well, see the movie.

PRIZZI'S HONOR looks very good and it has a very good cast (Nicholson, Turner, Anjelica Huston in an Academy Award winning performance, Robert Loggia and William Hickey) and it also was a box-office hit back in 1985. However despite this I didn't found it that interesting and probably for two major reasons: 1) It could have been funnier (2) It's just not that full of action scenes as a gangster movie should be. Now I am not saying I hated the movie, but I found the plot very complicated and for me it was hard caring at all about these murderers. Not a must see despite being directed by John Huston, but just a time passer.

Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner both are assassins, though when Jack first notices her, he has no idea she, too, is a professional hit-man (hit-woman?). When they fall in love and get married, it seems kind of darkly sweet, but soon there are LOTS of complications--including the mob ordering them to kill each other. How will they work this out? Well, the film manages to do it in a way that I certainly didn't expect.

"Prizzi's Honor" is a well made film and it was a sleeper hit back in 1985. However, I've gotta be up front about this one....it just didn't interest me very much. I think there are two main reasons--it should have been funnier and I just don't like most gangster films. There is a HUGE fascination among the public for gangster films, I know, but apart from a few classics, I don't care for the genre at all. So, keep this in mind as you read my review--this guy just isn't into gangster films. Now this isn't to say I hated the film--the acting was quite nice. But I also found the plot needlessly complicated and it's hard caring at all about evil murderers. Worth seeing, perhaps, but to my it just wasn't up to all the hype.

I personally love Prizzi's Honor, it is one of my favourites. John Huston does a very good job directing, and while black comedy is not what I call his comfort zone, he does show talent for it. The film looks stylish with the cinematography and scenery great. The script is great fun with some delightful black comedy elements, and while the story has its bizarre moments it is compelling all the same. The film doesn't feel boring or dull either, and I always have fun watching it. The cast are wonderful, Jack Nicholson and Kathaleen Turner are very believable and Robert Loggia is great too but it is Anjelica Huston who steals the movie. Overall, I love Prizzi's Honor. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Had the makings of great movie - original and interesting basic plot, one of the greatest directors of all time in John Huston, plus the acting talents of Jack Nicholson, Kathleen Turner and Angelica Huston.

Yet it falls short.

The movie lacks intensity and the script seems disjointed at times. Pacing is off, and the feel of the movie is far from smooth.

Not exactly boring, but could easily have been a lot better.

The mafia-comedy hardly seems like a new idea in 2009, we've seen it done well ("The Sopranos"), done alright ("Married to the Mob" or "Analyze This") and done badly (any number of films, "The Godson" for example) and it practically seems quite an established film subject, even a cliché one at this point. However, to fully understand "Prizzi's Honor" if you've seen some of the latter day mafia-comedies that followed it, you have to understand that at one point it was a novel idea to make a movie where mafia dons and hit men were comedic fodder.

If you approach "Prizzi's Honor" expecting it to pick up where its successors left off, you're bound to be disappointed and will likely find it slow and its jokes stale. It's important to remember that this was the first major production to take the subject matter of "The Godfather" (high-level mafia families) and satirize it. It therefore must have seemed quite clever and groundbreaking in 1985 to lampoon the bizarre behaviors and concepts of honor that "The Godfather" and all its imitators had presented to us as reality. You really can't hold "Prizzi's Honor" accountable because so many others realized there was a satirical goldmine here and exploited it until the mafia-comedy film was as cliché as the mafia film, so when approaching this movie, I tried to remember nothing like this had really been done before.

Prizzi's Honor opens with a wedding scene, which is probably a nod to "The Godfather", but it is a very weak and plodding scene by any definition and especially in comparison to the masterpiece it emulates. From there it's mostly uphill though, as Nicholson's tremendous acting is just enough to suspend disbelief as his character, the son of a high ranking mafioso, has a wacky whirlwind romance with a dashing woman he meets at the wedding, only to discover she is mixed up in scamming his own mafia family and she's actually a hired killer just as he is, but that his love for her is so strong that her background doesn't matter. Dating the enemy becomes more and more of a tightrope walk and increasingly their genuine wedded bliss seems to be interrupted by their real world jobs, which would suggest they should see each other as a threat, and both of them typically deal with threats by homicide, leading to a quite funny problem that recurs throughout the film.

The film is very quirky, since it's basically making up a new style of film there's a lot of imagination and the plot itself doesn't fall into any clichés. However, it does exploit a basketful of mafia movie clichés, from the over-the-top Brooklyn drawl that Nicholson somehow pulls off to the corpse-like appearance of the decrepit yet ruthlessly brilliant Don Corrado Prizzi. As most of its successors have just combined mafia clichés with a basic plot, "Prizzi's Honor" seems quite fresh with its complex plot and wonderfully offbeat characters.

"Prizzi's Honor" seems to have fallen by the cinematic wayside, at least, it's not on too many short lists of great films, and its lackluster IMDb rating (6.8) rates it below or alongside many works it actually paved the way for. To some extent I think it suffers from the notion that very few good "serious" films emerged from America in the 80s aside from the stuff Woody Allen was doing. While to some extent this movie does seem to reflect some of the mid-80s film-making malaise, there is a lot of very clever work being done here, and this really is a movie worth remembering.

Comedy? Not really. Drama? Little, if any. Tragicomedy? Possibly, some, but not developed as such. The plot is too complicated for its own good. The pacing is much, much too slow. The acting is quite solid all-round, but that is, unfortunately, not enough to save the film. The action is daft. The tension is low and both poorly built and utilized. The characters... I could *not* get behind anyone's motivation. Also, to quote Team America: World Police(more specifically, the character of Kim Jong Il(who I understand is quite a "character" for real, as well)) "Why is everyone so f**ing stupid?!" To be honest, it's mainly the mobsters. Why? I "get" wanting to make gangsters look dumb and inept, but... you might want to check the level of reality at some point, too. Or make sure you have your audience check their brains at the door. This started out almost poetically... slow, building... beautiful images. Then it starts trying to be funny. Much of it is dark comedy, but very little of it actually works. Not long after, it starts trying to be dramatic... here, it fails even more-so. With Nicholson being painfully dimwitted and Turner being fairly... easy, slutty, it's just difficult to find reason to sympathize with these people(and let's not even *mention* the notion of liking them). I doubt there's a single credible character in there. I think what takes the cake here, though, is the ending... or, rather, lack thereof. Please, anyone who's seen this, let's be honest; this movie doesn't "end", it just stops. The words "The End" fade onto the screen, followed by the credits, but there's no real closure(not to mention, it came across as tacked-on). To the story, to the characters, to the plot. I recommend this to only the biggest fans of the people involved in making it, and urge most anyone else to just skip this one... it's no great loss. The loss is the great chance that was wasted in the production of this film... with an interesting premise(later made into a Hollywood flick that manages to be more entertaining than this), a (or so I've heard, this is the first of his films I watch) competent director and a highly talented cast, this could have been simply breathtaking. Instead, it's rather moan-inducing. Sad. 6/10

Director John Huston was 79 years old when he made this...and it shows. The man who started his directing career with the great Maltese Falcon in 1941 is way "out of touch" here. The facts that he was a huge cigar smoker and a "hard" drinker would not have helped his brain age naturally. Anyway the directing is very clunky, the photography pedantic, the continuation (editing) poor and the script only average. Jack Nicholson plays the mentally challenged Mafia hit man Charley Partanna...but his one dimensional performance is boring. Kathleen Turner becomes Mrs. Partanna after an absurd sequence which (I guess) was supposed to be funny. The "expert reviewers" call this a black comedy. Its not really. It is a below par movie which is only very mildly amusing . (more grey than black). Made in 1985, it has already become dated and insignificant. Remarkably...it was nominated for 8 Oscars. It won one...Anjelica Huston (Johns daughter) for best actress in a supporting role. She deserved it.

This movie is often good and funny, but sometimes 's not focused enough. The story tries to cover a lot of themes, genres, and plot implications which doesn't always work. The best parts are the ones which deal with Charlie/Irene complicated relationship, in which you never know for sure if she's manipulating him from the beginning or not. One funny thing was the homage to Mafia movies, such as The Godfather. Some lines really hit their targets, too (Well, it's not many if you consider the size of the population, comes to mind).

The acting is very good, and the best thing of the movie. Jack Nicholson plays an incredibly dumb character, that gets wonderfully developed by the end. He has a great comic timing. Kathleen Turner is very good, she has a great chemistry with Jack, and can look innocent and the moment after a total bitch. Besides, she ha a great, calm, sure delivery. Anjelica Huston is very funny playing mean / jealous / spoiled / manipulative/sweet, though lack of screen time hurts. The supporting are all great, and the one who plays the Don is hilarious, with his sadistic way of saying his lines.

The direction is simple, but has some original shots, it works with this material. It's mostly steady camera. The music creates a contrast; it's quite cheery and happy, and that makes the movie funnier. It's a very dark comedy in my opinion, and sometimes a romance drama. It's worth watching, and original, but not a masterpiece. 7.5/10

"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

John Huston, as he reached the end of his life, was clearly searching for new ground to cover as a director. In this film he may have put a foot wrong, but that's not to say this isn't a very, very enjoyable film.

You can sense from the quality of the performances the willingness of the actors to do anything for the chance to work with the legendary actors. There is a virtual clinic put on by all the key performers in this movie, from Jack Nicholson putting on a very convincing Brooklyn accent to depict a hard-nosed, not-too-bright tough guy to Kathleen Turner as his romantic and professional foil. Turner, in this film gives us the blueprint for how James Bond could ever be depicted as a woman. She sizzles with cool.

For my money, one of the most amazing, terrifying performances I've ever seen is William Hickey as Don Prizzi in this film. His voice is not intimidating but his demeanor is. The detachment and reserve in his voice makes his cool demeanor all the more terrifying. He was so scary that I actually wondered if it was a joke. It nearly veers into farce, it's so scary. He steals every scene he is in as the aging mob boss. Honestly I found Angelica Huston's performance a bit one-note. She had the look of a hangdog puppy in the picture and I didn't feel much charisma emanating from her.

I thought softening up a wonderful plot with some sentimentality was not the best decision but the acting, direction, and the fencing between the two leads make this a very enjoyable movie.

A dynamite conceit -- a hit-man and hit-woman fall in love and then find out that they've been hired to kill each other -- falls flat because of director John Huston's inability to settle on a consistent tone. It's not a satiric comedy, though it has satiric elements, but it's never compelling as drama either. Jack Nicholson is humorous enough as the dolt of a hit-man, and Kathleen Turner was at a career high when she made this film and just about runs the show. Creepy William Hickey gets a few scenes as don of a mafia family, and Anjelica Huston became the first actress (and I think to date only actress) to be directed to an Academy Award by a parent, but her role doesn't consist of much more than her walking around, decked out like a bird of prey.

Maybe it's because Huston was reaching the end of his illustrious career (this was one of the last movies he made), but the movie feels plodding and lifeless.

Grade: B-

This film has fallen from my 1980's assessment of "brilliant" down to "really very good". Why the slight slope off? Mostly because I think it positions itself as a comedy, but it's not particularly funny. What it is is devilishly clever, with an amazingly black heart. I'm not surprised that it's adapted from a novel by Richard Condon because it's funny kind of in the same manner as "The Manchurian Candidate" (which might even be funnier).

It's best not to even tackle the plot because even this poster feels like a spoiler to me. All of the accolades back in the 80's seemed to go to Anjelica Huston and William Hickey, partly because I think they were kind of new discoveries and turn in great, really eccentric and mannered performances. I think Nicholson and Turner deserve more praise than they got. Nicholson's rare performance as a really dumb man is wonderful, and Turner pulls off a really sunny performance as a really bleak and duplicitous character.

This tongue-in-cheek fairy tale of true love between hired assassins is more demanding than it should have been, almost certainly requiring a second viewing just to unravel Richard Condon's convoluted plot. Jack Nicholson portrays a dim-witted pet hit man for the Prizzi crime family; his rival/paramour is Kathleen Turner, and the scenario demands a heroic suspension of disbelief to accept either star in their role. Both were obviously chosen for their marquee appeal, but it's the supporting cast that makes the film worthwhile, including William Hickey as the frail Prizzi patriarch and Angelica Huston as his scheming granddaughter (the former earned an Oscar nomination; the latter won the award). Director John Huston, for all his acknowledged talents, shows no special gift here for black comedy, and the cold-blooded conclusion may leave viewers with a bitter aftertaste.

Eight academy nominations? It's beyond belief. I can only think it was a very bad year - even by Hollywood standards. With Huston as director and Jack Nicholson and Kathleen Turner as leads I probably would have swallowed the bait and watched this anyway, but the Oscar nominations really sold it to me, and I feel distinctly cheated as a result.

So it's a black comedy is it? Can anyone tell me where the humour is in Prizzi's Honor? It's certainly tasteless (the shooting in the head of a policeman's wife is but another supposedly comic interlude in this intended farce about mafia life) but with the exception of a joke about 'your favourite Mexican cigars' (which I imagine is an old joke for Americans who have been officially forbidden from buying anything Cuban for the last 50 years) I failed to spot anything of a comic nature - and I did try. There is a lot of Mafia cliché but cliché doesn't constitute humour in my book.

Is it a romantic comedy of sorts? Never. The characters and their relationships are so completely incredible and shallow that they are on a par with Ben Afleck and Jennifer Lopez in Gigli.

Is it a cleverly devised parody about the Mafia? Not in a million years. The plot is just pointlessly absurd rather than comically absurd, and it usually just has the feel of a really bad (and cheap) Mafia movie. It feels more like a homage than a parody.

With one-dimensional characters and little in the way of humour written for them, the actors are left doing dodgy accents and pulling faces. Well it isn't enough; even when the face is being pulled by that master of the comic facial expression, Jack Nicholson (repleat with puffed up top lip ... now is that meant to be a parody of Brando's padded jowls in The Godfather?... Oh! Who cares?... all I know is, it isn't funny).

Throw in some slow, plodding direction (this film drags on for 2 hours), some hopelessly daft and clichéd dialogue such as; "You remember the Camora? Well we're far bigger, we'll track you down wherever you go", and clichéd mannerisms and you'll be reaching for that fast forward button before you can say "capiche?". Prizzi's Honor is far from being Huston's "masterpiece" and is rather a very poor last work. It's definitely one work in the great director's canon that should be given a concrete overcoat and tossed into the Hudson River.

In New York, the hit-man Charley Partanna (Jack Nicholson) is like a son for his godfather Don Corrado Prizzi (William Hickey), who is a powerful mobster. In a wedding of a member of their family, Charley meets Irene Walker (Kathleen Turner) and he falls in love with her. Irene introduces herself as a tax consultant, but indeed she is a killer hired by the Prizzis for a "contract" in New York. They get married, and later Chaley realizes that she betrayed the Prizzis and had stolen their money in a casino. Charley has to face and decide between his code of honor with the Prizzi's family and his love for Irene.

"Prizzi's Honor" is a masterpiece and certainly one of the best movies of the 80's. The story is engaging, having a very dark black humor and many plot points. Jack Nicholson, Angelica Huston in a Machiavelian role, Kathleen Turner (gorgeous, sexy and elegant) and William Hickey are amazing. The performance of the magnificent cast and the outstanding direction of John Huston are marvelous. I have seen this movie at least six times, and I do not get tired of watching it. Unfortunately "Prizzi's Honor" has not been released on DVD in Brazil. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "A Honra do Poderoso Prizzi" ("The Honor of the Powerful Prizzi")

Although this movie isn't really my cup of tea, there's an awful lot to appreciate. Mob movies aren't my genre of choice, and I tend to only watch "hitman" dramas when the lead is a heartthrob who falls in love with his target. That being said, I've seen Prizzi's Honor twice to appreciate the wonderful acting.

Jack Nicholson was completely out of his element in the role, and he handled it masterfully. Told repeatedly by director John Huston to remember that his character was supposed to be stupid, he managed to convince audiences that he was indeed quite dumb. Easy Rider aside (and that was a totally different ball of wax), Jack didn't play low-energy, stupid roles. He played high-energy, quick, cunning, feisty, daring, volatile, exciting, charismatic, and infectiously likeable. He changed the way he spoke, the way he held the muscles in his face, the movements of his body, and his reaction time.

It'll take you a few minutes to get into his rhythm, but you'll soon get acquainted with his new character. It's not the best performance of his career by a long shot, but it's different. If you like his energy and persona in this one, consider renting About Schmidt, where he plays a very average middle-aged man with very average energy.

Anjelica Huston is also very good in this movie, with a range of vulnerability and calculation to her character. I'm interested to read the original novel, to see if her character is fleshed out on the page. Anjelica is far more memorable than Kathleen Turner, the leading lady in the film. I'm not a Kathleen Turner fan, and she doesn't add much to this role, but she doesn't ruin the film. With all the twists and turns, surprises and double-crosses, it's not productive to focus on one lady who could have been replaced by any other actress. Just focus on Jack and Anjelica and you'll be in good hands.

Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to violence, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

Who hated this movie. I took a date to see it because the CRITICS were raving about this movie as a brilliant "dark comedy". Raving is the correct word, because I feel the CRITICS must have been MAD. It certainly was "dark" but it was NO comedy. My date and I both agreed there was nothing funny about the movie. There were no characters we liked and the idea of a Man and Wife in bed with guns at the side of their beds ready to kill one another because it was their "job" was about as funny as going to the dentist.

Yet to this date I still see people claiming it is a great movie. Talk about the EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES. I just don't get it. It is nice to know that I'm not the only person who felt he/she wasted their money on this over rated movie.