It’s rare that a movie gets the life of an average Joe to feel right. Hollywood does a great job of blowing stuff up, choreographing car chases, and concocting shocking situations for gross-out comedies, but it’s an all too special occasion when a film manages to tell the stories of characters who are relatable and whose hopes, dreams, laughter and sadness actually feel real.
“Moonstruck” and “Diner” are two of those gems, and each has managed to remain consistently watched and beloved more than 20 years after their release, as thousands of bigger, louder movies have faded into the junk bins of history. Now, a new film that deserves to stand the test of time for its terrific comedy and deep humanity has arrived, and its name is “City Island.”
“Island” follows the story of Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia), a prison guard who has lived his entire life on the titular mile-wide island located just off a corner of the Bronx, and his seemingly functional but humorously warped family. Rizzo really dreams of being an actor but believes that even his wife of 20 years, a law office receptionist named Joyce (Julianna Margulies), will scoff at his ambition since everyone he’s ever encountered stays content with their drab blue-collar existence.
Meanwhile, Joyce has slowly grown resentful of the years of “poker games” Vince claims to play while he’s actually taking secret acting lessons and is wondering if he’s straying from her with an affair instead. Their daughter Vivian (well-played by Garcia’s daughter Dominik Garcia-Lorido) is secretly stripping to (you got it) work her way through college, and their teen son Vinnie (a hilariously droll and sarcastic turn by Ezra Miller) is surreptitiously surfing the Internet looking for sites with fat women when he discovers his favorite site’s hostess actually lives across the street from him.
But all the secrets and lies don’t come spinning out to the surface until Vince meets a troubled yet seemingly savable prisoner named Tony Nardella (Steven Strait in a terrific star-making performance). In reviewing Tony’s file, Vince realizes that the 24-year-old inmate is the son he abandoned in infancy and has kept secret ever since.
Knowing that Tony can get an early release if a family member houses him for the remaining month of his sentence, Vince decides to make up for lost time and bring Tony home with him. But as he keeps his status as Tony’s father secret, the new house-guest only serves to stir the pot on all the emotions and secrets that have been simmering in the Rizzo household for decades.
This may sound like it’s setting the stage for an intense drama or thriller, and in the hands of a typical Hollywood hack that’s the direction in which “City Island” would go. But writer-director Raymond De Felitta – whose most prominent prior release “Two Family House” won the 2000 Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards (aka the “indie Oscars”) ad was named as one of the year’s best films by the prestigious National Board of Review – has instead crafted a film that is wildly funny and unpredictable, with the Rizzo family careening towards openness, honesty and unexpected happiness even as the walls they’ve built to maintain distant and deceptive lives seem to be crashing down around them.
“City Island” is also clearly a passion project for Garcia, and his alternately heartfelt and hilarious performance is a career highlight for the veteran actor. Garcia’s box office powers may have diminished in recent years, but if enough of the public gives this movie a shot early in its run, it could also prove a dream come true for its star.
“City Island” is in limited release but expanding over the next few weeks.
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