Joe Pesci and Helen Mirren as husband and wife?

It's inevitable Helen will be doing the déclassé act for so many reasons. First would be the subject matter and the characters of the script. But forgive me, nomatter how much I enjoy Pesci's amusing and violent characterizations, he just doesn't have the range that Helen Mirren possesses. Her thespian skills are so vast she is one of Britain's finest actresses, up there with the very best. Joe Pesci can easily handle a brothel businessman, but could he have replaced Tom wilkinson as George III? I don't think even Sir Anthony Hopkins handled Nixon anywhere near as competently as Dame Mirren as Elizabeth Regent. From the first time I laid eyes on her in George Harrison's (yeah, the Beatle) "The Long Good Friday", I knew this was as mind blowing a professional as Emma Thompson, and that's saying something. Of course, Joe Pesci will have an international fan base probably even greater than Mirren, but for the obvious commercial reasons that require much less discrimination to absorb a Hellen Mirren role than one of Joe Pesci's. Chacun à son goût.

I disagree with your comment, Joe played it perfectly. When ever [ first i must say this not directed at you] there is a guy playing the brute, cheater, abuser, or someone bad, it almost always come off as bad acting, when if you truly disliked the character it usually means they did a good job. I feel sometimes we equate good acting when the role requires a soft side and the two styles are in contrast with each other. We gravitate to the more softer side because it's easier to latch on to. This is the main focus on Romcoms as the softer side guy is who most want to root for he is almost always helped by being good looking liked even when most can't act well. What i am getting at, is I try to look at the overall movie and equate how the characters left me, satisfied on weather they were believable or not.