My Blue Heaven

Directed by Herbert Ross, My Blue Heaven follows an uptight FBI agent (Rick Moranis’ Barney) as he’s tasked with protecting a mobster (Steve Martin’s Vinnie) in the witness-protection program. It’s an appealingly larger-than-life premise that’s employed to increasingly compelling and entertaining effect by Ross, as the filmmaker, armed with Nora Ephron’s screenplay, delivers a briskly-paced comedy that boasts plenty of laugh-out-loud funny moments and a series of exceedingly engaging performances – with, in terms of the latter, Martin’s completely captivating (and often downright hilarious) work here elevating the proceedings on a continuing basis. (Costars Moranis and Joan Cusack are just as good, to be sure.) There’s little doubt, as well, that My Blue Heaven benefits substantially from a narrative that grows more and more engrossing as it unfolds, and it’s clear, certainly, that the palpable chemistry between Martin and Moranis’ respective characters plays a substantial role in cementing the pictures success. (This is to say nothing of the continuing emphasis on agreeable fish-out-of-water elements, as well.) The final result is an above-average endeavor that deserves a place among the ’90s very best comedies, with Martin’s astonishingly effective turn merely the tip of the iceberg in terms of the movie’s myriad of overt pleasures.

***1/2 out of ****