Director: Norman Jewison
Cast: Cher, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis
Have I Seen It Before: Never! In one of those weird twists of fate for that particular evening, had I seen it before I might not have even seen it then. (This will mean nothing to you.)
Did I Like It: Is it weird to marvel that a film written by an Irish-American and directed by a English Canadian can make a film that feels so authentically Italian*? Brooklyn Heights feels so believably lived in as a neighborhood in this film, I’m more than a little surprised that Cage is the only Coppola involved in the proceedings.
Feeling as if one is spending time in Brooklyn Heights alone would probably be enough to recommend the film, but there is thankfully quite a lot else going on here, and it is all deceptively simple. The film would have been forgiven for giving into the impulse to make the third act nothing more than a farce. I might have even enjoyed it if it had, but to what some might seem an anti-climax instead becomes a symphony of believable and earned character work. The plot is moved along by facial expressions, not ornate turns of fate.
The performances are key here. The vagaries of the ensuing decades might make one (read: me) giggle a little inappropriately the moment Nicolas Cage shows up on screen, but for his presence and the ultimate truth that this is an ensemble piece, it can’t help but be Cher’s movie throughout. Is there another pop diva who has had a more consistently successful career as a film actress? You might be tempted to throw Barbara Streisand in my face, but Streisand has always played herself. I’d challenge you to find too much similarity between Cher’s character here and her work in either The Witches of Eastwick (1987), or Mermaids (1990). Hell, she doesn’t even have to sing at any point in the movie—or the end credits—to justify her presence here.
*Fair question: What the hell do I know about anything being authentically Italian?