There’s a quaint fishing village in the Bronx?
That’s just one of the surprises to be found in City Island, a crowd-pleasing comedy about a wildly dysfunctional family living at the edge of New York.
Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia) is your guide to City Island. He works as a guard at the nearby correctional facility and dreams of becoming an actor. Vince tells his wife he’s going out to play poker every week, but he’s secretly takes acting lessons. Everybody else in the family has secrets, too. There’s a running gag about how each of them sneaks cigarettes while telling the others they’ve quit, but there are bigger secrets to be protected than that.
Vince’s wife Joyce (Julianna Margulies) is a bit disappointed in life and in Vince, too, for that matter. She and Vince have two children: Their daughter Vivian (Dominik Garcia-Lorido, Andy Garcia’s real-life daughter) is a scholarship student at college. Or so they think. Vivian has lost her scholarship and doesn’t want mom and dad to know she’s working as a stripper.
Their adolescent son (Ezra Miller, Californication) is a sweet-natured kid with a wicked sense of humour. And a weakness for obese women. (The details make City Island sound like an — ugh — ‘zany sitcom’ but it’s all saved by whimsical writing and great casting.)
Vince has more secrets than his acting ambition. He has an adult son from a previous relationship that his wife and family know nothing about, and one day the kid shows up in Vince’s jail. The son is Tony (Steven Strait), and he’s a car thief among other things. Tony could be released into the custody of his family, if he had one. Vince decides to take Tony home for supervision.
All hell breaks loose, as you might imagine. Nobody else in the family wants some scofflaw stranger living under their roof. Still, Tony is hard-working and wise and he looks good with his shirt off, so he soon makes a favourable impression.
Vince, meanwhile, struggles with his acting ambitions; in the film’s high point, he auditions for a Scorsese movie. It’s all fun and games, at least until everyone’s dark secrets come tumbling out.
City Island has a cast that includes Alan Arkin as Vince’s acting teacher, and Emily Mortimer as another acting hopeful with secrets of her own. The movie doesn’t always make sense, but it’s very funny and seems to charm viewers wherever it plays. And the performances are terrific. Garcia is particularly good as a blue-collar guy with acting aspirations.
In real life, City Island is a touristy village with an overall nautical theme. It’s on the outskirts of the Bronx (just over the bridge) and a bit of a surprise to most outsiders. In reel life, the movie was written and directed by Raymond De Felitta (Two Family House) and filmed on CIty Island after all the usual uphill battles encountered by low-budget, independent movies. It won the audience award at the Tribeca Film Festival last year.
1 hour, 40 minutes
STARS: Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies
DIRECTOR: Raymond De Felitta
(This film is rated PG)
liz.braun@sunmedia.ca
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