Friends and Family

Despite what rrfrank writes in his comment, "Only totally undemanding homosexuals desperate for validation will bother with this dog" I am not undemanding, not desperate for validation and I am not a dog. I am very demanding and I am a bear. (For those that don't know, big hairy gay man.) Yes, the movie drug at several points. Yes, there are far too many stereotypical gay type characters ... overly stereotypical ... looks like a homophobes attempt at creating gay characters. Fabulous! Having grown up during the time when a lot of these stereotypes were the only "role models" gay people had it is really amusing to see someone finally making fun of them.

I do have to say that you must sit through the entire movie. The first time I saw it, I was not enthused by the title, the cover and the fist fifteen minutes ... truth be known, I went to cook dinner. My other half was watching and would break out laughing ... it became more frequent. I guess it was a good 30 minutes into the movie when I had to come in and watch. Well, I had to finish diner but after fixing out plates I made him start it over from the beginning.

I love watching the butch gangsters trying to "act gay" - picture big butch guys with guns trying to queen it up. And during the big party, the god father is terrific trying to make sure that one lady has everything she wants to see at the party.

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 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).

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.

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.