Movie Review

Romance & Cigarettes (2007)

EW's GRADE
C-

Details Limited Release: Sep 07, 2007; Rated: R; Length: 115 Minutes; Genres: Comedy, Musical; With: Steve Buscemi, James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon and Kate Winslet

ROMANCE & CIGARETTES James Gandolfini and Kate Winslet | Romance & Cigarettes, James Gandolfini, ...
Image credit: K.C. Bailey
ROMANCE & CIGARETTES James Gandolfini and Kate Winslet

It's possible that only an actor could talk so many other good actors into looking this ridiculous on screen. Somehow, director John Turturro persuaded James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Christopher Walken, and Mary-Louise Parker (among others) to lip-synch and dance through his unmagical quasi-musical about a Queens construction worker (Gandolfini) and his affair with a really crude cockney (Winslet, proving once and for all that she can be good in anything). With Walken around, hair up high, of course there are fleeting moments of fascinating weirdness, but even then, you're still moderately embarrassed for the cast.

Originally posted Sep 05, 2007 Published in issue #953-954 Sep 14, 2007 Order article reprints

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