Novelist Jay McInerney goes to bat for 'The Godfather: Part III'

Eugene Gologursky/Getty

Jay McInerney thinks 'Godfather: Part III' isn't that bad of a movie.

Is a new generation of film lovers watching Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather: Part III" with more appreciative eyes?

Novelist Jay McInerney left us wondering after telling us his 14-year-old son Barrett, a "gangster-film buff," thinks the final installment of Coppola's trilogy doesn't get its due credit.

We ran into the "Bright Lights, Big City" author at the party he threw in honor of a friend, "Sex & the City" creator Candace Bushnell, for her new book, "Summer & The City," at his Greenwich Village penthouse on E. Ninth St.

A high-spirited McInerney was telling guests about his friendship with filmmaker Sofia Coppola.

As "Godfather" fans know, Sofia was a last-minute replacement for Winona Ryder in the role of Michael Corleone's daughter Mary in "Part III," and her performance was cited at the time as a reason the film is widely regarded as the weakest in the trilogy. (She even received a 1990 Golden Raspberry Award for "Worst New Star.")

But perhaps future film critics won't be so harsh. McInerney told us that when Barrett learned his dad was going to meet Papa Coppola, "he asked me to ask" the veteran director "why ?The Godfather: Part III' is so underappreciated.

"It's actually a good icebreaker, because everyone knows [that] everyone thinks that film sucks," McInerney said, though he added: "I happen to think it's a pretty good movie."

We never got a chance to ask McInerney what Coppola's answer was, as he turned his thoughts to the party's guest of honor, Bushnell, who looked smashing in a navy blue Herve Leger dress.

McInerney told us Bushnell has been a friend "forever," explaining: "I met her the moment I came to New York in the 1980s, and we just hung out."

He could have been talking about "Sex and the City's" Carrie Bradshaw when he told us: "Candace was always the most fun girl in the room. She was always �funny and smart and she looked great."

At times, when their friendship called for it, McInerney said, "I used to take her home at 3 in the morning and carry her up the stairs to her walkup apartment."

Actors Anjelica Huston and Brooke Shields were also among the guests who took in the Village views from McInerney's wraparound terrace. But it was Bushnell who left her own party early �because, she declared, "I have to do TV at 5:30 a.m. and a hangover just wouldn't do."

That's called Working It & the City.

Contact Gatecrasher:
Frank DiGiacomo: fdigiacomo@nydailynews.com
Carson Griffith: cgriffith@nydailynews.com

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