John Turturro, in his director's hat, dips into lip-sync musical fantasy in the proletarian mode of Pennies from Heaven (or the more rarefied and bourgeois Same Old Song of Alain Resnais), with minor modifications: the people engage in raunchier talk, and instead of simply mouthing the words to old pop songs, they audibly sing along with the original recordings. The self-conscious jokiness, broadened perhaps by the blue-collar milieu, testifies to the filmmaker's discomfort with fantasy. Kate Winslet has some genuine fun as a hot-patootie redhead, and Elaine Stritch makes a big splash in a brief appearance ("Every breath is a victory," in response to a routine "How are you?"). With James Gandolfini, Susan Sarandon (fifteen years older than Gandolfini, as his wife), Mary-Louise Parker (three years younger than him, as his daughter), Aida Turturro (one year younger, as another daughter), Mandy Moore (a third daughter, the right age for it), Bobby Cannavale, Steve Buscemi, and Christopher Walken. (2007) — Duncan Shepherd
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