Everybody Wants to Be Italian

Not too much pasta and sauce on this plate but plenty of fun inside the shell's. I wouldn't call this the best romantic comedy I have seen over the last 2-3 years but what it had for me was a refreshing blend of ingredients that didn't upset my stomach. A good blend of old and new from a cast that worked well on screen together. Once I got past the notion that this guy Jake, was held up on the same girl for 8 years, I was fine. The scene when Jake was with all the educated Harvard types and he broke down his business model was a fun twist, we got to learn that this guy was more than a good looking frame. I have seen critical reviews the last three days and I for one just don't see where they are coming from, I'd suggest you get out and see the film for yourself. I don't know how much the title hurts the film, but I certainly don't think people should take it so literal, it would seem that the writer wanted to express that everyone wants to be passionate, needed, and in search of a sole mate?

There are a couple of flaws with this film. It feel slightly untidy and rough around the edges. It obviously lacked funding and was clearly targeted at the Sat night American market. It lacks the strong script of an independent film, but also the big budget for a good cinematographer, or at least a screenwriter to tie up the loose ends.

I was expecting two distinctive things from this film - stereotypical Italians and one dimensional characters, orbiting the main cast and providing us with some ethnicity based comedy. At one point we see a man in a white vest shouting from a window!!! The second aspect of the film I was expecting was two lovable main characters. Unfortunately Cerina Vincent failed to soften at any point during the film. I understand this is how her character is written, but any characteristic which would endear her to the audience failed to materialise, even towards the end of the film. Jay Jablonski put in a surprisingly good performance as a rude, childish but ultimately likable stalker. He just about managed to rescue his character despite the poor script. Unfortunately his character lacked emotional consistency and therefore came across as slightly mentally ill, perhaps with a touch of schizophrenia.

If you like hearing Italian dialogue in a film, (which was all very authentic, apart from the two old people), then go see Everybody Wants to Be Italian, but there isn't much else holding it together.

When jake is having trouble getting over his (married) ex-girlfriend, his friends fix him up with marisa. It's pretty much an episode of three's company. Jake isn't honest from the start. He tells one lie to cover up another lie, and of course it snowballs. Marisa also tells a lie. What a mess. Painful to watch with all the all the lying. Of course it's going to all blow up. We don't really root for anyone, since everyone is lying. John enos was actually born in boston, but some of the fake new england accents are pretty bad. About an hour in, we find out that jake is suddenly a genius business man, making big bucks. But he can't seem to show up for his shifts at his own store. And jake isn't even be a good friend to marisa. Why does she hang out with him? Later, a small child just screams and screams. So annoying. The script needed fixing up for sure. Some pretty adult language here. And lots of rude, stereotype things said by jake and his buddies at the fish shop; to be fair, it was released in 2007. A small role for richard libertini, from all of me and fletch. A walk-on by the awesome penny marshall. They should have let her direct! Written and directed by jason ipson. This one is currently showing on MAX. It's okay. Has some funny moments.

This film is intended to be a light-hearted romp with some outrageous gags, but is actually an inept cliché-ridden mess with key characters who vary between gullible, unlikeable and delusional. Infantile Jake (Jay Jablonski) pines for women he can't have. He's obsessed with his ex, who's married and has kids. They broke up EIGHT years ago! It's too insane and too implausible to be cute or funny. The word "stalker" comes to mind.

I only watched this because of Cerina Vincent, who has an amusing reaction to a date-gone-wrong with Jake. This was probably the best part, given the film dwells on socially awkward and painfully contrived situations.

While there are some amusing characters in the fish market, it's not enough to save this fiasco. To be fair, I thought the film might redeem itself in the second act and turn into something decent. But NOOO ... the third act is a HUGE shark-jump. The pat happy ending is one big soapy cliché and doesn't help except to signal relief from watching this disaster unfold. This movie is one long FACE-PALM. I give it three (3) stars, as there ARE some (barely) OK moments.

I too had similar reactions in the theater I went to this week. Audience I would say liked the film, let's say a 3 out of 5 star and what I have read online so far especially from the NYC critics is like a 1 out of 5, there is no way this film is a 1, what are you watching or are we so used to what Hollywood has been running out there every five days that we forget about movies like The Godfather, hello, do you remember the score, it wasn't like it kept flowing, there were times where you could fall asleep, but no one is questioning one of the best movies of all time, now this is no Godfather, but the cast, Jay Jablonski, Cerina Vincent, Marisa Petroro, John Enos, and John Kapelos, all inter-act on screen nicely, the story line and characters ARE believable, have you ever spent time listening to Italian guys talk, this is the real deal. Call it what you will but my Italian step-father agrees 100% he loved the film. I hope the general population will not read some of the so called, "Critic's" and question exactly what they are talking about, they get paid for these comments?