Friends and Family

The main idea of this movie - gay couple in mafia - was interesting and this alone could make a good movie with the parents facing their son as a killer for mafia. But some things made the movie so stupid, that it felt almost like the writer got drunk, wrote some "funny" lines and a movie was made. I'm talking about the military parents. If the producers cut this part off the movie they could save some money on the bad actors portraying the militants and invest it to improving the script.

And the usual complain: no kiss and except for the last scene, there was no touch between the gay couple. But to be impartial, the other people in the movies didn't kiss as well.

While it does provoke the occasional laugh -- and the actors give it their best, particularly Anna Maria Alberghetti -- "Friends and Family" is a mess. The film- makers couldn't decide what kind of film they wanted: a screwball comedy,

a gay farce, a social commentary, or a love story. The result is a

very unsatisfying mix of them all with the pleasures of none. The tone jumps all over the place, most of the numerous plotlines make no sense, and too many of the supposed jokes fall flat. Yes, the gay couple is nice eye candy, but that was far too little payoff for suffering through this turkey.

Like so many gay movies, there is so much potential here, but it never matured during the artistic process. So many things were not quite there. The script with a little more polish, the directing with a little more experience, the acting moving a little faster, and the movie with a little more work would have been totally delightful.

Two things bothered me most.

1. The lack of a kiss or any real intimacy between the gay couple. I kept hoping until the end that they would kiss - even a small peck.

2. The pace. This movie was slow. Not sure whose fault this was. Did the director over control the actors not allowing them to move it along? Did the editor stretch everything to try meet an appropriate length? Not sure, but even the big action sequence toward the end was a waltz, when it should have been frenetic tarantella.

There were a lot of funny ideas here, but the delivery was sooo slow. Pace, pace, pace, screwball comedies are about pace. Keep it moving. It may have been that the production staff (writer, director, etc) where just too impressed with themselves.

The acting on the other was pretty good. I think with proper pacing they would have been exceptional.

Yes, like so many low budget indie gay movies - I wish for a rewrite and a remake by a competent director. I wouldn't change the cast at all, just the creative/production staff. This could be a delightful charming hilarious movie, but it isn't quite there.

By the way, if you listen to the commentary you may begin to understand what went wrong and who is at fault. Oh well, <sigh>.

The movie is ridiculous. The overall "plot" is ridiculous. The humorous misunderstandings and paths to resolution and the behavior of characters generally is ridiculous. The bizarre juxtaposition of mafia, gay body-guards, insurrectionists, the wanna-be cook, the wanna-be interior decorator is ridiculous. The inability to follow simple cooking directions without a disaster and especially the need for the wonderful Edward Hibbert to train a group of ultra-macho mafia hit men to act like campy gay waiters is ridiculous … but the resulting performance of the waiters was good for some chuckles.

If you're in the mood for ridiculous it was a moderately amusing movie. Not rolling on the floor funny, but fairly funny with a few out-loud laughs here and there. It is obviously mocking some stereotypical subplots found too often in gay movies and it is very much mocking itself as it mocks others … sometimes successfully lampooning, sometimes falling flat. Most of the characters are well played by an able crew of actors. Maybe it deals with an overly complex interweaving of stories for such a fluffy movie.

If you're in the mood for some mindless silliness and not aiming to nitpick things that make no sense outside of the context of this story, it's probably worth a watch while you wait for the dryer to finish off your laundry.

If you want edgy realism, politically correct characterizations and a satisfying dénouement to an on-going nail-biting crisis, don't even think about watching this disorganized & chaotic production.

That's the only way I can describe this dog. Just awful. Two chuckles for very rare "funny lines" and one star for finished product. I may lie to local video store & claim dvd was defective. At least I'll get a credit for wasted money! LOL! Could have been so much better without stereotypes & militia parent storyline. I do give my "hats off" to actors that portrayed Stephen & Danny. They were the only redeeming factors in a poorly written script. Did I mention that they were "easy on the eyes"? WOOF!