BLU-Ray REE-Vu: City Island

City Island. I guess more appropriate titles like Little Secrets or City Confidential had already been claimed. Either of the latter would have made a keenly descriptive title for a movie where seemingly everyone has something to hide.

City Island is a stretch in the Bronx, New York. Yeah, it's real and so are the Rizzo's, the flick's main characters. There's Vince, Sr...the dad; Joyce, the mom; Vince, Jr and Vivian round out the family of four. The common ground here, aside from the New Yawk accent is, very simply, everyone's hiding something. Vince, Sr is the most bottled up. Figures, right? We emotionally constipated, American males are all the same. Vince, Sr aspires to be an actor, a far cry from his job as a prison guard. He is secretly attending acting classes, but wait, there's more. Big Vince is also hiding a prison-ridden son from a previous relationship. Dad uses his influence in the pen to check his son out of that less-than-four-star environment and brings him home to temporarily live life as a Rizzo. His goal? Not sure. Maybe he's just trying to get to a point where he can play Papa with his oblivious offspring. Meanwhile, Vince, Jr has the hots for the BBW's of the world, taking an interest in his well-rounded neighbor. Vivian has dropped out of college unbeknownest to the clan and has found a dancing partner in the pole at a nearby topless joint. All the while, Mom is suspecting Vince, Sr of cheating and plots revenge with her new house guest, not knowing of course, that it's her step-son. And, yadayadayada, there you have it. A royal mess from the less than royal Rizzo's.

It's good...scoring 3.5 Stars on my scale. If you like interesting characters who have a penchant for mirroring the lackluster dishonesty that is the human condition, you'll like the Rizzo's. Then again, you might find it too real. After all, aside from some of the more outlandish sub-plots here, the Rizzo's are a pretty nice replica of just about any American family. They want to create the invincible air of having everything together...of being tough and in charge, but inside, each acts on their fear. That fear is simple: they are scared of the impact that their own realities will have on relationships with their loved ones. Family dynamics abound and, gee, it kinda reminds me of home.

The plot is entertaining enough. The characters are interesting enough. The acting is good. Andy Garcia plays Vince, Sr so well, I wanted to slug him myself and say, "Just tell her you want to act, goober!" Julianna Margulies and Dominik Garcia-Lorido play mother and daughter respectively; and Ezra Miller continues his positive momentum as Vince, Jr. Alan Arkin even plays a small role as the acting coach.

This one is not for everyone, but if you appreciate irony and interesting characters, you might want to add it to your queue.

That's it for me...thanks for reading!
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