"The Rizzos, a family who doesn't share their habits, aspirations, and careers with one another, find their delicate web of lies disturbed by the arrival of a young ex-con (Strait) brought home by Vince (Garcia), the patriarch of the family, who is a corrections officer in real life, and a hopeful actor in private."
3.5 Stars
Editor's Note: It actually took me a minute when I was tagging this film to truly decide whether or not if it fit more into the Drama or Comedy genre. In the end, I settled on Comedy, but there is a relative amount of depth to this story that shouldn't be ignored.
The Rizzos are a close-nit, fairly stereotypical Bronx family living in the New England-esque town of City Island, NY nestled at the Western end of the Long Island Sound. All of them are guilty, in one form or another, of indulging in little white lies to hide the parts of their lives that they are not quite ready to share with the rest of their family. But, while their lies does have consequences, it's hard to ignore the fact that most of them are created in an effort to protect the ones they love from the truth and maintain the familiar facades they have created for one another. The secrets cover a wide range of importance from the innocuous cigarettes Vince (Andy Garcia) and Joyce (Juliana Margulies) hide from each other, to the more significant realization that the newest inmate at the Corrections Facility Vince works at is actually his long-ago-abandoned son.
The choice of setting the story in City Island, New York (where the newcomers are referred to as "mussel-suckers" while the old blood calls themselves "clam-diggers") was a smart, albeit unutilized one. This is a community where there is only one of each type of store and homes are passed down from generation to generation. The town itself could have played a much more influential role in the definition of the characters and their history. Instead, it almost came across that this story could have been set anywhere along the New England coast. As opposed to a unique place that possesses both the serenity of a sleepy seaside town and the edge that comes from being in the Bronx.
The story itself also failed to deliver the whole way through. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the end seemed just a little too easy. The audience actually starts to buy into this family with all their flaws and real-life relatable struggles, so it really seems like a disservice when everything more or less works out in the end. But, I must admit, the last 15 minutes of the film did result in one of the better movie climaxes I've seen in a while. And there is really nothing bad that can be said about the acting. Emily Mortimer and Steven Strait more than fulfill their duties as supporting cast members, as do Ezra Miller and Andy Garcia's real-life daughter Dominik Garcia-Lorido. I've noticed Ezra Miller's talents in several other films, and apparently I'm not alone. He's a noticeable force from the beginning of the movie, but it's almost as if his part was written just to get him some screen time. So, while I'm glad to see him work, his storyline doesn't much contribute to helping move the plot along, and almost feels forced.
Regardless, this movie can really just be summed up in one word, family. They aren't perfect, in fact they're far from it. And the communication between them can only be described as slightly better than that of the United States and Russia during the Cold War. But, no matter how they show it, they love each other and will always be there for one another. The line that Andy Garcia delivers right before the credits roll is one I won't soon forget:
"Every busy city needs an island of peace, just like every busy soul needs a place of repose."
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