Emily Mortimer | pinartarhan.com

City Island with Andy Garcia. And you thought your family was weird and problematic? Wonderfully written and directed by Raymond De Felitta. Produced by De Felitta and Garcia.

Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia) is a correctional officer at a prison. He is a proud City Islander (Le Bronx, New York) and the family man of a hilariously problematic family, though he is not aware of half the problems.

His teenage son is into fat chicks (very much into feeding them) and intrigued by their extremely fat neighbor. He also cuts most of his classes.

Vince and his wife Joyce (Julianna Margulies) are happy that at least one member of the family- their daughter- is getting proper education. Of course what they don’t know is- she is not in college, but working as a stripper.

Vince and Joyce can’t seem to talk without fighting and Joyce is pretty sure that Vince’s so-called, frequent poker games are in fact a cover for seeing his mistress.

They are a cover, but Vince isn’t cheating. He is taking acting classes, but he is just too ashamed to tell his wife. He also has a bigger secret- he has a son from a girlfriend way before his wife. But now he has found the son- an inmate, Tony (Steven Strait). Since Tony has no family to be released to, Vince decides to bring him home. Without asking Joyce first.

No one knows about who Tony really is, apart from Tony’s acting partner (Emily Mortimer), who just has some secrets of her own…

If you think you have seen it all when it comes to comedies about dysfunctional families, wait till you see this one. It is refreshingly original and downright hilarious. So, it is not a laugh-out-loud every moment like Hangover.. But when it tends to get a little emotional, it more than makes up for it by hilarious moments or moments that are just entertaining and are simply helping build a very fun climax. Loved every minute of it.

All actors are good, but of course- if I have to pick one, it is Andy Garcia. He is perfect at comedy. It is interesting to see him in this because let’s face it- we are more used to him being the romantic and/or the serious lead. Remember When a Man Loves a Woman? 10 Things to Do in Denver When You Are dead? He can get pretty psycho when he wants like The Air That I Breathe (an emotional movie with an ensemble cast, and this movie features a fun reference to it)…But the whole cast was just good to watch.

7.5/10 on IMDB. Sounds fair. Wouldn’t even mind if it was higher. Recommended, for everyone.

Dear Frankie is a charming little story about a young woman’s love for her deaf son and the lengths she will go to protect him from any disappointment and danger regarding his father.

Lizzie (Emily Mortimer) lives with her son Frankie (Jack McElhone) and her mother. The story of Frankie’s dad remains a mystery to the viewer for a while. What we know though is that Lizzie has been exchanging letters with Frankie, posing as his father. She has told him that he works on a ship and has to travel a lot, which disables him from coming home. She has even used a name of a ship she has seen on a stamp. But as luck would have it, the ship is real and is about to come to their town. Though torn between telling the truth and keeping up with the reality she created, she painfully decides to hire a man to pose as Frankie’s dad. Her friend finds her a man with no past,present and future- a man she knows nothing about, just like Lizzie wishes. This Stranger (Gerard Butler) meets Frankie and spends a day with him. What she couldn’t have plan for was that this guy would form a bond with her son and herself and would want to spend an extra day with them…

It is not the most original script, I am going to admit that. But sometimes, just like this movie, the performances are so beautiful and powerful that you don’t mind that you might have watched similar stuff before. You get lost in the story, root for Lizzie and her son and you want the stranger to stick around. The landscape is amazing. This is not a movie that costs a lot. This is not a movie you expect to be marketed aggressively. But the important thing is, it is not a movie that you will forget. And that’s what matters at the end of the day.

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City Island starring Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Steven Strait and Emily Mortimer

Dear Frankie starring Gerard Butler and Emily Mortimer