This family drama touches all the right buttons for an afternoon getaway from humdrum routines. Targeted at the 18 plus audience, the film brings together a fine cast, a heartfelt story and a few surprises.
The film takes place in Queens, New York and hard worker Leo Russo (Ray Romano) a tried and true Italian family man who works for the family construction business. His wife Angela (Laurie Metcalf) has been a great wife and companion to
him and their only child 18-year-old Matthew (Jacob Ward). Leo had nicknamed Matthew “Sticks” since he was born and it has stuck with the popular boy high schooler. Living his life through the boy, Leo has gone to every sporting event that Sticks has been in and now he’s about to graduate high school with a possibility of gaining a college scholarship for basketball.
Being in neighborhood dominated by Italians, the high school has a huge following for Sticks and the basketball games find a lot of company in the stands for Leo. But, there’s more going on besides living in a son’s dream as Sticks has been seeing Dani Brooks (Sadie Stanley). Now his steady girlfriend he wants to bring her to meet the family. For Leo she may be a distraction and the straw that keeps him from getting a college scholarship.
Filled with a lot of fine drama, comedy and Italian family comments, the movie is a lot of fun to watch. Somewhere in Queens has been rated R for language and some sexual material. Being Italian, the family image is spot on and the accents are defiantly New York Queens. A little biased my rating for the film is 5 out of 5 stars for all my compaesansos, all others 4.5 out of 5 Stars.
Additional Film Information:
Cast: Ray Romano, Laurie Metcalf, Jacob Ward, Sadie Stanley, Sebastian Maniscalco, Tony Lo Bianco, Geoffrey Owens
Directed and co-written by: Ray Romano
Genre: Comedy, Drama
MPAA Rating: R for some language and sexual references
Running Time: 1 hr. 46 minutes
Opening Date: April 21, 2022
Distributed by: Roadside Attractions
Released in: Theaters
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com