City Island

Director: Raymond De Felitta
Cast: Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Emily Mortimer and Alan Arkin
Releasing in cinemas: 27 May 2010
Rated: M

Without a really intriguing title, City Island turns out to be a firecracker of a movie. More aptly it might be called ‘Family of Secrets’ for it deals with a happily dysfunctional family where each member has a secret from the others with results which are boisterous, heartwarming and hilarious. When an exceptional cast works from witty script under a confident director, it’s a sparkling night’s entertainment.

City Island of the title turns out to be a small island off the Bronx. Here lives an eccentric family of misfits headed by father Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia) a prison corrections officer and would-be actor, his frustrated aggro wife Joyce (Julianna Margulies), daughter Vivien (Dominik Garcia-Lorido) a closet stripper, and weirdo teenage son Vinnie (Ezra Miller) who has a dubious interest in female obesity. Last but no means least, there’s Vince’s other (illegitimate) son Tony (Steven Strait) who’s serving a term in the prison where his dad works.

Oh, and they’re closet smokers, just one of the secrets they keep from each other. The fun really begins when Vince decides to bring his wayward convict son Tony home from prison to meet the family, not revealing the boy is really his son from an old romance.

Vince is also secretly preparing to audition for a role in a Marty Scorsese movie, with the help of fellow student Molly (Emily Mortimer), whom he met at an acting class run by the peppery Michael Malakov (Alan Akin). Vivien, having been kicked out of college, is now covertly into sensual pole dancing at a men’s bar; while young Vinnie has the furtive need to feed larger-than-life ladies, especially the next door neighbour who sports on a porn website. Uptight Joyce suspects Vince might be having an affair, since he gives the excuse of regularly playing poker to cover his surreptitious acting lessons.

Tony’s arrival and intended stay with the nutty family sets the cat among the pigeons in more ways than one. While Tony earns his parole by renovating a bathroom, poor Vince has to summon up the courage to break the news of Tony being his son to his family. The happy premise of the film is that every presumed family disaster defies convention and works out splendidly with many laughs along the way, leaving you a warm feeling at the end credits.

The script and direction by Raymond De Felitta hardly misses a trick with the clever unpredictable plot and appealing characters. Andy Garcia (Ocean’s Thirteen) excels here, sympathetic as the little guy with big hopes - his take on Brando a la Pucino at the film audition is a pleasure to watch. He’s given strong support by Emily Mortimer (Harry Brown) who has a quiet charm as Molly, his endearing encouragement in the acting game.

Alan Arkin (Sunshine Cleaning) is always good value and is much appreciated in his appearance here; you wish he could have been in more scenes. Other members of the cast all turn in funny and compelling performances with happily droll moments; although Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife), Steven Strait (10,000 BC) and Ezra Miller are particularly worthy of mention. Cinematography by Vanja Cernjul does much to heighten the mood and delights in the settings at City Island. Surely this is one of the most joyous and uplifting dysfunctional family movies in long time.

John Bale