Cruise is way over the txop.

Rating: 8/10 (16 April 2020)

I was excited to see The Color of Money a couple of days after I watched The Hustler (1961) which is where we first meet Eddie Felson but did it live up to expectations?
Fast Eddie Felson decides he wants to return to the game by taking a pupil. He meets talented but green Vincent Lauria and proposes a partnership. As they tour pool halls, Eddie teaches Vincent the tricks of scamming, but he eventually grows frustrated with Vincent's showboat antics, leading to an argument and a falling-out. Eddie takes up playing again and soon crosses paths with Vincent as an opponent.
The first surprise was that this was directed by Martin Scorsese . When you Hear people talk about his work , this is rarely, if ever , mentioned . Some critics didn't like it either but as far as awards go , it did really well .
On the whole I liked it . Unlike The Hustler this is far more about the pool than anything else .
Paul Newman is great and is the glue that holds this film together.
Tom Cruise not so much .
Cruise is playing a rookie pool player and he feels like a rookie actor in this. He's fine in the quieter scenes but when he's being the pool player he really does over ham the acting .
If he acted like that in real pool halls in the US ( or here in the UK) he'd more often than not find himself in deep trouble.
Another downside is that this has that mid 1980's look about it . Movies didn't look great in that decade and this is no exception.
The story is uncomplicated and I thought it might be sad to see Eddie 25 years older but it really wasn't . He really was back!
Newman won best actor Oscar for this and many said it was a sympathy win because he'd missed out in so many great films and that maybe so but he is head and shoulders the best thing about The Color Of Money .