Salina Art Center
In the beloved sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray Romano perfected a relatable type: the dryly-humorous everyman who invariably gets embroiled in work and family conflicts despite his efforts to remain above the fray. Making his directorial debut, Romano brings his hang-dog relatability to this comedy-drama about a father who becomes obsessed with his shy teenage son’s basketball prowess.
Romano is Leo Russo, part of a sprawling, often contentious Italian-American clan dominated by Tony Lo Bianco as Romano’s father, owner of the construction company where Leo’s worked all his life. Married to his high school sweetheart Angela (an excellent Laurie Metcalf), Leo tries to connect with his son Matthew (Jacob Ward), which he never could with his own macho father. When Matthew (nicknamed “Sticks”) unexpectedly gets a chance at a basketball scholarship to college, Leo pushes him to take this chance instead of joining the family business as everyone else expects him to do. But his efforts to be a sensitive, supportive dad don’t quite work out.
Angela, though more aloof, also wants what’s best for Sticks—especially when she meets her son’s much more extroverted girlfriend (Sadie Stanley, a star in the making) and takes an instant dislike to her. Romano’s direction is assured and unpretentious, and his script (co-written with Mark Stegemann) nimble and funny, but what really separates this film from sitcom clichés and Italian-American stereotypes we might expect is the surprising humanity and heart.
As in real life, no one is 100% saint or villain; everyone is doing their best, and Romano’s film gets great comic and dramatic mileage from showing how good intentions can go haywire.
"Somewhere in Queens" is rated R for profanity and sexual references and is 117 minutes long.
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Sponsored by: John, Jamie, Brigid, & Quint Hall