Romance & Cigarettes

7/10. Saw this Sunday afternoon at the Splendid in Bern.

Watching this slightly-askew musical, it's hard not to be reminded of Herbert Ross' Pennies From Heaven (and not just because both feature Christopher Walken dancing). Happily, Romance & Cigarettes is enough its own thing not to feel redundant, although like the earlier movie it's destined to be underappreciated in its time.

To say that the movie doesn't "work" would imply that I was hip to writer/director John Turturro's intentions, which I'm not. All I can say for sure is that Turturro intended something. For a lot of moviegoers, I know that's not good enough, but for me it'll be worth at least a second viewing.

The overabundance of familiar faces in the cast is a distraction -- "Look, there's Steve Buscemi! Mandy Moore! Eddie Izzard! Tony Goldwyn! Etc.!" -- but the three leads are in great form: James Gandolfini as a philandering bridge worker, Susan Sarandon as his strong-willed wife, and especially Kate Winslet as the foul-mouthed "other woman".