The Deli

An A Class Cast in a B Class Movie. The Deli tries to be like Clerks or Smoke and fails. For starters, half this movie is just for laughs. No real story, no plot or moral, just a laugh or two. The other half is decent, with good acting, a good storyline, etc. If they had to do it all over again, they should edit 45 minutes of the movie and made it into a short film. That way, the Deli could have won awards for a 3mm short comedy. Instead, the Deli is a straight to video release with an amazing Italian cast and a terrible story. PS....does anybody relate, if not care about the main characters? Gamblers without any shame of destroying their lives in order to win on a basketball game. It's one thing to write a comedy, but the ending makes the audience lose interest in any of the characters and treat the Deli like a "half-baked" comedy...with a great cast of actors.

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.

Just purchased the Special Edition DVD with the Commentary and Deleted Scenes (which I thought some should have been left in the film). The director and actors on the commentary stated that even children enjoyed the film. Well, let me tell you my 8 year old daughter started to watch it with me during the Pinky/Mattarazzo scenes !! She was laughing. Anyway, a great talented cast that knew how to act natural contributed to an authentic film about a typical ethnic New York neighborhood. Complimenti ! Bellissimo film ! Established character actors such as Tony Sirico, Burt Young, Vincent Pastore, Frank Vincent bring an authenticity to the film which makes the viewers literally feel that they are right there on location in a close knit neighborhood. Even the great Judith Malina from the theater contributes in her portrayal as Mrs. Amico. This film should be viewed by any film lover as it is a light hearted comedy about any given day in a NY quarter.

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.

A messy movie with the occasional unnecessary scene that gos nowhere and appears to have nothing to do with the plot. One of the most annoying films I have seen in years. I guffawed once so I guess it gets one star. Truly arduous viewing!