Not a fan of Nora Ephron? Well, she hasn’t exactly been knocking them out of the park, lately. What with Bewitched and some fairly weak romantic comedies, it seems like she’s just fallen into a habit of trying to repeat the success of When Harry Met Sally by simply ripping herself off. However, there was a time when Ephron was still willing to push the boundaries of what she was capable of as a writer and create new films, not tired rehashes. My Blue Heaven is one of her best. Give it a try next time you want to download movies.

Steve Martin and Rick Moranis co-star as, respectively, a made man from the New York mafia currently in the witness protection program, and an FBI agent protecting him from the goombas that would have him whacked. Martin is sent to a picturesque small American town, so it’s your standard fish out of water story, but because it’s done very well this time, it works, it’s funny and it feels relatively fresh. It all comes down to how the story is told, and this one is told well enough.

Of course, what it REALLY comes down to is if the movie is funny, and this one is. Even the material that shouldn’t be all that funny, it actually works because of how skilled Martin and Moranis are at this sort of banter. The whole movie is full of great laughs and, at the very least, some good chuckles. This standard odd couple relationship, like the fish out of water plot, is made fresh and new by the cast and approach to the material.

Martin quickly takes over the little town he’s been sent to and starts his own thing. He meets a few other protected witnesses, they decide that they’re not getting enough from the government, and they start hijacking trucks and forming their own little mini-mafia in their friendly little town. Watching these old goombas take the town over is really delightful, watching Steve Martin talk his way out of trouble is even better.

The movie does get directly involved in some violent stuff later on, but it never gets ugly, it’s always funny and never unpleasant.

The movie also draws some great comedy from Martin’s incredible ability to juggle women. He has two girlfriends and a wife, and somehow, they never find out about one another. This is funnier and funnier as the film goes on and you start to wonder how he manages to drift in and out of these women’s lives without ever drawing any suspicion. Maybe he’s just that charming?

There’s a great, dreamy look to the film with clear blue skies and green pastures, that iconic, picturesque American small town landscape. This really serves as a nice contrast to the urban, gritty environment which Martin typically finds himself more at home in.

It may not be one of the greatest films ever made, but it’s certainly one of Ephron’s best, every bit as funny as When Harry Met Sally, but also focusing on more interesting subject matter than the same old dating jokes that don’t really hold true for anyone out of their mid twenties.

The list of today’s accomplished slide players is large and ever growing. threater movies Their first full-length release, Throw Your Good Side On, is scheduled to be released this year (2006) This is a heartbreaking lesson for many people, but still something that has to be said at times.