Low key comedies about working class families are not the most saleable of commodities at the modern box office. Far too much effort is required on the part of the studio to make a good one that it is far easier to commission another comic book adaptation or an Adam Sandler film. Today's flick of the day, City Island is just such a rarity and all the better for it. A tale of dysfunction in an idyllic area of New York, it is a winner on all counts.
Andy Garcia is Vince Rizzo, a Bronx family patriarch and prison guard who harbours dreams of becoming an actor. He hides these dreams and a few other secrets from his equally frustrated wife Joyce played by Julianna Margulies. The film's storyline and its humour are both derived from the various secrets they and the rest of the family hide from each other. Both smoke yet do so in secret. Their academically gifted daughter Vivian secretly moonlights as a stripper while their teenage son hides a fetish for large women. Into this farce steps the biggest secret of the lot. Vince has a son from a previous relationship, Tony who after a fashion finds himself a prisoner in Vince's prison. Eligible for parole if a family member takes him in, Vince brings Tony home to the rambling house on the shoreline of City Island. As the various family secrets work themselves out, the humour flows in a naturalistic manner.
The real joy of this film is the natural warmth between the characters and the well drawn nature of their interactions. Andy Garcia excels as the family man trying to hide his past while also doing the right thing. His character is both believable and compelling and his arguments with his wife are as funny as they are true. Margulies gives as good as she gets in her role as the long suffering mother while the various children make the best of their roles.
Ultimately this is charmingly old school in its approach to rounding out the edges of the various secrets. Everything works out as expected though it is perhaps slightly too smooth how Vince's hopes of an acting career take such a skyward trajectory at such short notice. The only other downside is perhaps the underwritten roles of Alan Arkin as Vince's acting coach and Emily Mortimer as a friend aware of his dream. That said some of the best elements of this farce of misunderstandings come from Joyce's belief that Vince is having an affair.
All in all, an enjoyable small family comedy with enough dark elements to keep the audience entertained. The setting of City Island is idyllic and the cast well chosen for their roles. Andy Garcia is particularly strong as the patriarch caught between his past and doing the right thing. Well worth a look on an otherwise cloudy day.
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