I decided to take a chance on this movie when I stumbled upon it in my neighborhood video store. I feel I should mention that I'm not a fan of Cassavetes' films, though I did know that he just acted in this movie and didn't write or direct. Cassavetes does give a good performance in the movie - in fact, all the other actors give good performances as well. Under the direction of Elaine May, the performances have a relaxed and unrehearsed feeling; at times I almost thought I was seeing real people caught by a hidden camera. May also captures the grit of an American city in the 1970s before things got cleaned up. Despite this good stuff, however, the movie eventually becomes somewhat tiresome. The Cassavetes character eventually becomes obnoxious and frustrating because we never really learn how he got into trouble. And after a time, you start to wonder where this thin story is going - you have to wait until the last half hour before the plot starts moving again. Not a terrible movie, but the script should have gone through a couple more rewrites before filming started.
Review of Mikey and Nicky
