Men of Respect

Macbeth as a mobland drama is no sillier than The Tempest in deep space; but the Scottish Play is so obviously a prototype for tales of young wiseguys slaying their way to capo-dom that to rewrite the original is simply stating the obvious. Young hood Mike Battaglia (Turturro), egged on by ambitious wife Ruthie (Borowitz), kills gang boss Steiger and gets to be padrino. But no sooner is the deed done than he starts hallucinating visits from slain buddy Bankie Como (Farina). Reilly rewrites the original in fustian noir, but shows too much respect for it, bending over backwards to fit in touches like catatonic comic Steven Wright in a slouch-on part as the Porter, pathetic fallacy galore, and lines like 'Not a man of woman born can do shit to me'. Turturro acts as though he can't believe what he's got into but is determined to have a field day anyhow; and Borowitz gives Ruthie a slinky gravitas, although she doesn't look the kind to freak out with the Ajax.