Synopsis
In Philadelphia, a small-time bookie who stole mob money is in hiding and he begs a childhood friend to help him evade the hit-man who's on his trail.
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Cast
- Peter FalkMikey
- John CassavetesNicky
- Ned BeattyKinney
- Rose ArrickAnnie
- Carol GraceNellie
- William HickeySid Fine
- Sanford MeisnerDave Resnick
- Joyce Van PattenJan
- M. Emmet WalshBus Driver
- Sy TraversHotel Clerk
Recommendations
- 100
The Guardian
A neglected 1976 gem from a neglected Hollywood genius. May was known for her comedy but here proves absolutely fluent in the language of mobster lowlife, with an edge of caustic, disillusioned humour, and strange yet shockingly real outbursts of violence in which cafe owners and bus drivers are suddenly roughed up. - 90
Chicago Reader
One of the most innovative, engaging, and insightful films of that turbulent era of American moviemaking. - 89
Austin Chronicle
Mikey & Nicky is commonly, and unfairly, categorized as a John Cassavetes knock-off, which diminishes the originality of Elaine May's screenplay and this character study she crafted especially for co-stars Cassavetes and Peter Falk. She unleashes the darkest, most mercurial side of Cassavetes, and in Falk finds the actor's moral ambiguity that had been obscured as a result of his then-popular run as TV's Columbo. - 88
Slant Magazine
Few films have so exquisitely captured how straight American men reveal their affections and insecurities to one another, as well as how they’re both threatened and awed by each other. - 75
LarsenOnFilm
Clearly May is invested in the material — she wrote it — and deserves credit for creating a fruitfully improvisational atmosphere. Yet she doesn’t leave a very distinct signature here, such as the social satire she brought to A New Leaf and The Heartbreak Kid. - 75
The A.V. Club
Mikey & Nicky is sometimes dull and sometimes confusing—and it's both at once in the first 10 minutes, when Cassavetes is semi-comatose in a hotel room—but it also features plenty of absurd-but-believable human behavior. - 70
Time Out
With an imaginative use of locations, carefully controlled atmosphere, and superb performances all round, it's an often impressive, always watchable modern noir thriller, based on credible human motivations. - 60
Empire
Well acted genre outing.
