City Island - Movie Review

Dysfunctional family may not be a laughing matter, but in the case of the Rizzo family, you can't help but chuckle. Dysfunction doesn't always have to stem from secret affairs, violence or lack of communication. Sometimes the communication can simply break down. Misunderstandings can fuel dysfunction while adding opportunities for humor. That is the premise that Raymond de Felitta exploits in his independent comedy City Island.

Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia) is a Correctional Officer (please don't call him a prison guard...save yourself a lecture). He is a working class stiff supporting a small family in a place known as City Island. City Island itself is a contrast. It is almost anachronistic. It is a small fishing village reminiscent of a coastal New England town, but it is located in the Bronx. The area provides an interesting backdrop due to its own contrasting yet complementary qualities. Vince and his wife Joyce (Julianna Margulies) care about each other but seem to have forgotten how to communicate.

The couple have two children who also exhibit mild tendencies toward dysfunction. Daughter Vivian (Dominik Garcia-Lorida...Garcia's daughter in the real world) was suspended from college and is working at a strip club. Her parents have no idea about her new profession. Son Vince Jr. (Ezra Miller) is a consummate smartass who loses no opportunity to exploit a tense situation. He also has a secret fetish. Junior has a need to feed. His feeding fetish leads him to the website of a BBW neighbor who helps him come to terms with his fetish.

All of this may seem complicated enough without adding that Vince has a son, Tony (Steven Strait), from a relationship that ended before he met Joyce. Tony runs into his son in prison. He talks the warden into letting Tony come home with him, but neglects to tell the family that a) Tony is a convict, and b) Tony is his son. Misunderstandings abound with Tony being the lynch pin to the families varied secrets. Everyone is hiding something and Tony ends up exposing everyone and learning about his own past in the process.

De Felitta does an excellent job creating characters that have flaws and secrets. He keeps the characters believable, while creating characteristics that don't turn the audience off. While butting up to controversy, the characters always manage to make the right decisions. Although that feels contrived, it works. There are no true antagonists in this film. Each character carries some of that water, while all of them end up being sugary sweet and lovable. The writing could
have taken the easy road and made the dysfunction deep and impossible to resolve. De Felitta decided not to make that film, which has been done ad naseum. Instead, he tried a fresh approach and allowed the audience to love the entire cast of characters. Although manipulative, it worked for me. I liked being able to like all the characters, even when it made things a little predictable.

Andy Garcia was exceptional in this film. During the first ten or fifteen minutes I didn't care much for him. I felt like his character would end up being the villain due to his inability to see beyond his own horizon. However, his character developed with the plot lines and I found myself enjoying him. The transition must have been difficult, but Garcia managed to pull it off. His performance was exceptional. His daughter, Dominik, demonstrated her acting chops and was pleasant to look at, too. Margulies was great. She nailed her role and helped sell the entire lack of communication that sets up the plot twists. Miller was fun to watch. His constant hyperactive dialogue was delivered with the right measure of antagonism to make him adorable. He could have easily caused his character to be completely irritating. Of all the cast, Strait had the toughest sell. He is the glue that holds the other characters together, playing a convict who we have to like to enjoy the story. Although he has his own flaws, Strait makes the character convincingly hardened and believably likable. It was a nice balancing act that allowed him to interact with all of the other characters to make the story succeed. It worked. The cast was superb.

City Island received a PG-13 rating for some sexual content and language. It had an odd mixture of sexual content, which was found mostly in the form of adult themes. Yet the film had no nudity. It was an interesting mix of material that kept the film edgy without ever really getting down to the nitty gritty. The daughter works at a strip club but manages to never take her clothes off. The son has an internet fetish, but it is about feeding and does not involve nudity (thank God). The mother nearly has an affair, but that doesn't go anywhere, either. There was even a disturbing discussion around the dinner table of Vivian's breasts. Although the film had adult themes, it was not problematic for me. I would suggest teens or above. Maybe tweens as well. In fact, based on what you find on regular television these days, this is no worse...I don't think I would put any age restriction on this film. This film has a run time of one hour, 44 minutes.

City Island was a warm, interesting film with flawed characters whose flaws help the audience identify. The characters matter because they are human. They aren't severely dysfunctional like many other films feel the need to do. They have simply forgotten how to trust each other and communicate. The writing included great dialogue and a few plot twists. Above all else, the writing produced some great chuckles and situation comedy. Although predictable at times and a bit manipulative, the film was engaging and warm. I would highly recommend this film. 8/10.

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