I think Warren does a good job of portraying the iconic serial detective, and Charlie Korsmo is certainly endearing as "The Kid." It took me a little while (I embarrassingly admit) to realize the character of Big Boy Caprice was played by Mr. Pacino, and almost no time at all to realize that the "Mumbles" character was played by Mr. Hoffman.
I enjoyed all the bright colors and some oversized props (reminds me a little bit of the whole aesthetic of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit...") Decent enough, although Madonna's attempt at nightclub singing really got on my nerves throughout the film, but alas , this is where Warren went wrong.
Warren did ALMOST everything right, in the look, his performance, the casting, the visual over-the-top stylizing for the sake of iconography, and the square jawed 30's comic sensibility, and even sticking his Ishtar buddy Hoffman in for a bit part. But then he had to turn into Director Warren Beatty, who rarely creates an action sequence when an artistic musical montage would carry the scene along so much better...I remember we were all led in by comic-strip action scenes in the trailer, only to find out that those scenes would all be covered over by a slow Madonna torch song. To top it all off the film requires Madonna to ACT, not just throw out one liners like she did in "A League of Their Own".
