Posted 3:06 PM by Gene

There is something irritating about this stunt -- and something disconcerting. Let's come right out with it: Blue without his voice is a Mafia figurehead. Perhaps THE GREATEST DIRECTOR EVER plans to make another crime masterwork, The Story of an Underboss or something. That might not tell the whole story, but it would be very flattering to THE GREATEST DIRECTOR EVER. Never mind when LEONARDO DEPP opens his mouth and Blue's notes come out there may be a slight disconnect; we're talking such a level of imputed artistic brilliance only the ad-blurbists wouldn't notice; just by being THE GREATEST he'll so comprehensively deke out the cri-TICS the raves will sprout raves. One thing's certain: this masterwork will be as egregiously violent and foulmouthed as Blue's singing was soulful and haunting.

And it's not just a question of who plays Blue. Anybody (we suppose) could play Harry James, or Tommy Dorsey (presuming GREATEST is interested); the underworld characters will be easy as GREATEST will put his ALL into them, and half of Hollywood seems to be Mob character actors. But who plays Ava? Who plays Betty? Who plays Marilyn? Or Bing, or Jack Kennedy, or SAMMY, or the rest of the Rat Pack? GREATEST may paint himself into a corner; if the actors are too much their parts it's caricature; if not it's pointless, and worse, serves to show how one-of-a-kind Blue and company were. But since this IS a MOB picture GREATEST won't worry.

In a dream world this would be near perfect: larger-than-life people in a larger-than-life time. In the best of circumstances GREATEST is using pygmies. And we don't want to live in the dream world of the direc-TOR of TAXI DRIVER. We repeat -- how irritating.