The Deli

All through "The Deli", a movie centered around a New York City deli and its gambling-addict owner through the course of a weekend, the film shakes the audience by the shoulders again and again and shouts with the desperation of a drug addict in need of a fix (or a filmmaker in need of a positive buzz for his project)"I'm a quirky independent film with even quirkier independent-film-characters, I swear!!" Plot be damned! Scenes in "The Deli" are set up again and again to showcase the whacky ensemble cast of semi-familiar names playing loser-like, yet sometimes endearing characters that must inhabit the middle class neighborhoods of New York City's outer boroughs like locusts: one prime example is a scene involving a slimy Italian couple with over-the-top Brooklyn accents in a shouting match over some insipid topic as their stepdaughter dances around yelling with them, with rapper Ice T between them. The scene ends with Ice T stamping his foot in frustration and shouting with mighty gusto: "Damn! This place be crazier than my own hood!" Ha-ha. Boy, quirky independent films don't get any quirkier than this. Mike Starr, after a career of second-fiddle-at-best roles as the big, beefy working class guy with the big New York accent, finally lands a lead, and now he most likely never will again. Quentin Tarantino spawned a horrble plague on us all, and it is that of the bratty independant filmmaker who thinks Tarantino is successful only because he made "Reservoir Dogs" first. As a lifelong New York City resident, I've seen this breed of artists (and I use the term quite loosely) flock to Manhattan's trendier districts to jumpstart their careers, and the few who do just that, usually make B-Grade films like "The Deli", and paint their canvas with colorful New York characters who are mere figments in their imagination of what real New Yorkers must be like. I can't say it's all that insulting, at least when it's a mediorce quality film like this one, but it sure gets tiring after awhile, and makes one long for the days when Tarantino was still a waiter, and his army of wanna-bes still in Anytown, USA.

Not very much happens in this slice-of-life story about the people who work in and frequent a neighborhood deli. Most of the dialogue seems improvised, which isn't always such a good thing. There was a laugh or two but not enough to sustain interest throughout. Matt Keeslar is good and gets special credit for not even attempting a dese-dem-dose accent. The characters that come in and out of the story are sometimes interesting and colorful, but they add up to not very much. It is always nice seeing some good actors, like Chris Noth, Frank Vincent, Debi Mazar, William McNamara, Ice T and especially David Johanssen, who is perhaps funniest of all as a cabbie.

I understand that back then, this may have felt like just another one of those. One that tries to capture the feeling of movies like Smoke/Blue in the Face and so forth. But watching this with years gone by, the perspective helps the movie. I'd go as far as to say that it aged quite well overall.

The casting is amazing (I'm guessing a lot of favors got called in) and the story is alright overall, while not being anything special at all. It is about the interactions of the characters it is about "episodes" in life or the store. Again that may not appeal to you specifically, but that doesn't make this a bad movie - and vice versa. Decent enough for those interested in movies like this

This is to let you all know that while Quinn says the characters are an offensive representation of some New Yorkers - that's not true! (This comes from an Italian American...me) First of all, the movie is funny as all hell. That's because the quirkiness of the characters are quite real. Just take a walk into any OTB parlor, Yankees or Mets game and you're sure to find characters like those portrayed in The Deli. The character of Johnny played by Mike Starr is so incredibly accurate of the degenerate gambler it's scary. The movie does not 'glamorize' characters (like in Goodfellas or Casino) but accentuates the foibles and wacky neurosis of the everyday gambler and "regular Joe."

I highly recommend this movie for anyone with a sense of humor. While it's no Casablanca, it's a very very funny "insiders" representation of those who dwell in the Italian American blue class neighborhoods of New York city. Rent it. Watch it. And laugh! If you don't find it funny, then the jokes simply went over your head. So you'll need to watch it again.

Very funny, if slightly longish, look at odd-balls somewhere in darkest, ethnickest New York. Some of the jokes don't work, but if you don't like one, there's another along in 30 seconds and that's sure to be a pleaser. Any film that has Iman demanding an avocado, no pit (she's off pastrami) is worth one's time.