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Review Summary

There is more raw vitality pumping through “Romance & Cigarettes,” John Turturro’s passionate ode to the sensual pulse of life in a working-class neighborhood of Queens, than in a dozen perky high school musicals. This is a movie in which a dirty mind is a good thing. Call it “The Singing Id.” Prudes, be forewarned. “Romance & Cigarettes,” Mr. Turturro’s third film as a director, might also be described as a song-and-dance “Sopranos,” minus the crime and punishment and without most of the profanity. Stylistically, the overheated language of this kitchen-sink musical, many of whose characters are Italian-American and Catholic, belongs to the poetry of pulp. If the film’s proudly bawdy audacity goes a long way toward compensating for its narrative shortcomings, that audacity is still a commercial liability. — Stephen Holden, The New York Times