Movie Review - City Island

City Island (2010)

Starring Andy Garcia, Juliana Marguiles, Emily Mortimer, Steven Strait, Domink García-Lorido, Ezra Miller, and Alan Arkin

Directed by Raymond De Felitta
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

City Island is one of those movies that on the surface I enjoyed greatly.  I wasn't the least bit bored during its 100-minute running time.  I laughed often.  However, there were way too many moments amidst the ha-ha's that had me ridiculing the silly dialog and over-the-top acting.  In the end, City Island is a flawed film, but a pleasant one.

The Rizzos of City Island, New York (an island "suburb" of New York City) are a completely stereotypical Italian family.  Loud, boisterous, and replete with dinner table fights.  Between father Vince (Andy Garcia), mother Joyce (Juliana Marguiles), daughter Vivian (Domink García-Lorido), and son Vince, Jr. (Ezra Miller), there are more soap opera-level secrets the quartet is hiding from each other than the Desperate Housewives (how's that for a out-of-date pop culture reference?).  It's those very secrets (particularly those of the son and daughter) that pull this film completely out of any reality that director Raymond De Felitta created.  However, it's De Felitta's own fault considering that he wrote the screenplay as well, so he has no one to blame for the film's failures but himself.

Despite some of the silliness that De Felitta throws his actors' ways, they all do a pretty admirable job wallowing through the muck.  Andy Garcia is certainly just the usual hard-edged New York Italian, but he's actually quite pleasant and brings a nice easygoing charm to the screen.  Juliana Marguiles is the saucy wife, taking a cue from the Carmela Soprano playbook (on a much smaller scale, mind you) and does nice job.  Even somewhat newcomer Ezra Miller who is forced to be a much-too-wise-beyond-his years wisecracking smartass teen is able to rise above the truly awful storyline his character is given.

In the end, City Island is a movie that could have been a whole heckuva lot better if the whole story didn't seem so childish.  Yes, there's humor to be had and there's good acting on display, but the script bogs the whole thing down.  Still, if you're searching for something moderately entertaining, the flick fits the bill.

The RyMickey Rating:  C