Frankie and Johnny (1991)

Directed by Garry Marshall. Starring Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer, Nathan Lane, Héctor Elizondo, Kate Nelligan, Jane Morris, Greg Lewis, Ele Keats, Al Fann, Fernando López. [R]

Grubby kitchen sink drama with the soft heart of an urban fairy tale matches up a couple of handsome movie stars rendered frumpish and “real.” Ex-con Pacino takes a job as a short order cook in a New York City diner where he wears down Pfeiffer’s standoffish waitress until she agrees to go out with him (she never does, but that doesn’t stop him from showing up at her place as if she did). Romantic miserablism rendered as cutesy pap by director Marshall until the heavy drama spills forth in the late chapters. The supporting players, mostly fellow restaurant employees and Pfeiffer’s superficially gay neighbor (Lane), feel plucked out of a sitcom; the leads feel a little more real, but there’s a strain in their work to mute their natural charisma so that the truth of their attraction isn’t always evident (the eyes are what usually give them away). Script adaptation by Terrence McNally from his own off-Broadway play, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune.

58/100