Pauline Kael

"Nicholson drops his voice down so heroically low he even has to talk slowly. And Meryl Streep, who is Francis's hobo crony Helen, forces her voice down deep, too. The only moments of reprieve from the reverential slowness come when Streep sings "He's Me Pal" in the all-out, sentimental-Irish manner of a balladeer of a decade or two earlier. It's a spectacular re-creation of the old technique for "selling a song," and Streep's vibrancy lifts the film's energy level. The moviemakers immediately lower it when the song is revealed to be Helen's fantasy. (The "reality" we're given is too bitter, too crude; it would have been far more effective if something of Helen's former skill still came through.)...."

Pauline Kael
date?
Hooked, pp 420-421