Movie Review: Somewhere in Queens

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

A heartfelt comedy drama. 

This movie marks the directorial debut of Ray Romano (who also stars in and co-wrote this movie). The influence of his beloved sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond can be felt through much of this film. It is a small-scale story, it is based on the relationships in a family and features eccentric side characters. However unlike the sitcom this is a film that is not afraid to make you feel uncomfortable and explore more dramatic territory that is not always feel good. Shockingly it is with this that the movie works best. Much of this comes from the authenticity of the main character and his relationship with his son. There is never a moment where this relationship rings false. Though this relationship goes to difficult places and what the father does for his son, can't really be considered the moral thing to do, there is no doubt that these two characters truly love each other. This makes the many scenes where the father simply goes too far still very compelling. It also makes it so that we can feel angry at him for doing what he is doing but never so much so that we stop being able to sympathize with him. This is of course not hurt by a very likable performance by Ray Romano, who makes us truly care about the character, without hiding the darker side of him. The son (while a bit underdeveloped) is also always likable and there are many scenes where you simply want to give him a hug. This is also helped by a very good performance by Jacob Ward (in his first feature film). Also quite heartfelt was the subplot involving our main character's wife, as she struggled with anxiety after having had cancer. This was handled in a very touching and intelligent way and I wish it had been given more time. 

This movie does have its problems though. One is that outside of the father, son and mother, the rest of the family isn't that interesting. They kind of work as a group because they show the type of family that these characters are a part of and how that makes them who they are. However as individuals each of these characters is very bland and forgettable. The humor in this movie is surprisingly not as funny as it feels like it should be. The humor is not bad at all, but it made me smile much more than it made me actually laugh. This wouldn't be that much of a problem, if the comedic moments didn't always feel like they were going for a bigger laugh than they ended up providing. This is also one of those movies where you almost always know what is going to happen next story wise and its familiarity makes it hard for the film to truly stand out. 

While this film may have its faults it does a really good job at pulling on your heartstrings.