Romance & Cigarettes

John Turturro writes and directs this blue-collar musical starring James Gandolfini as a Queens construction worker married to a tempestuous Susan Sarandon and having an affair with a sexy lingerie salesgirl (Kate Winslet under a bright red hairdo). This is jukebox musical in the real sense of the term: They sing along to recordings by Tom Jones, Bruce Springsteen, James Brown, Dusty Springfield and Engelbert Humperdinck, not always overpowering the original singers but definitely hitting an appropriate level of energy as they dance in the streets and sway through coffee shops. It's all about sex and desire and the dialogue gets awfully randy during the hysterical tears and emotional jags that drive the film, but it feels a bit off-key and a lot unfocused. Mandy Moore, Mary-Louise Parker and Aida Turturro play their daughters (who all side with mama Sarandon), Steve Buscemi is Gandolfini's buddy who passes along dubious advice, and Christopher Walken, Bobby Cannavale and Eddie Izzard co-star. Features commentary by John Turturro and Amedeo Turturro, an introduction to the film and to the deleted scenes by John Turturro, and the featurette "Making a Homemade Musical."