ДРУЖБА 2

ПРИЯТЕЛИ И СЕМЕЙСТВО - Friends and Family 2001



филма
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стил на филма комедия

актьори
Cast overview, first billed only:
Tony Lo Bianco .... Victor Patrizzi
Greg Lauren .... Steven Torcelli
Christopher Gartin .... Danny Russo
Tovah Feldshuh .... Alma Jennings
Rebecca Creskoff .... Jenny Patrizzi
Beth Fowler .... Ada Torcelli
Edward Hibbert .... Richard Grayson
Meshach Taylor .... Bruno
Brian Lane Green .... Damon Jennings
Anna Maria Alberghetti .... Stella Patrizzi
Louis Zorich .... Marvin Levine
Frank Pellegrino .... Mr. Torcelli
Patrick Collins .... Matt Jennings
Daniel Mastrogiorgio .... Vito Patrizzi (as Danny Mastrogiorgio)
Lou Carbonneau .... Frankie Patrizzi


коментарThe cliche? A surprise visit from Mom and Dad sends a gay couple into a tizzy. The twist? Mom and Dad KNOW Stephen & Danny are happy and gay and have no problem with it--what they DON'T know is that they work for the mafia--the Patrizzi family, as enforcers and bodyguards. In this surprise parental visit, the ruse is not acting heterosexual for Mom & Dad but acting like, well, caterers. Throw in an unexpected visit from the militia, a fierce drag queen or two and mob enforcers acting like gay cater-waiters and hilarity ensues.

This visit scenario is but one way in which this film shows and old dog some very funny new tricks. Make no mistake--this is a farcical, screwball comedy with broad humor and somewhat unbelievable situations, but it goes for the laughs and usually gets them. The writing is crisp and intelligent, the sub-plots funny and well-defined and the acting uniformly excellent, with Tony LoBianco's "Don Patrizzi" an understated stand-out.

The underlying twists--fathers disappointed in sons, secrets kept from family members, "mixed marriages" and such are played for laughs, and almost always differently than we have seen these themes played out in other films. The film does not take itself too seriously, yet it has a sweet message of love and romance and truth to ones own ideals that runs throughout and helps us get more out of the film than just laughs.

Friends & Family had a regional premiere at Austin's 14th annual Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival in September, 2001, where it played to packed houses on two nights, but this film deserves mainstream release. It is unrated, but might garner a PG-13--it has little coarse language, sexually suggestive scenes or violence (save the cartoonish sort), and is a film I would readily take my 13 year old niece and nephew to as well as Mom and Dad. Tovah Feldshuh, Anna Maria Alberghetti and Mesach Taylor co-star.

The gay characters are likable, fairly realistic, and actually the heroes of the story; the film might well serve to introduce an awareness and tolerance that is often lacking in film (and in life).