The Rizzo household is full of secrets. Vince (Andy Garcia) is out "playing poker", but he's actually too embarrassed to admit that he's taking an acting class. His wife Joyce (Julianna Margulies)thinks he's having an affair and lets it drive her crazy. Vince's daughter Vivian (Dominik Garcia-Lorido) is home from school on break, not alerting her parents that she had been suspended and was saving up for her tuition by stripping. Their son Vince, Jr. (Ezra Miller) is into looking at chicks on the internet. Sounds normal? Well, he likes looking at overweight girls being fed. Add on top of all this the con Tony (Steven Strait) that Vince brings home on an early release that he feels is his duty due to something way back in his past. You know that this many secrets are going to unravel at some point.
The other star in the film is City Island itself, a small fishing village that sits between Manhattan and the Bronx.It's like Martha's Vineyard between these two great seas of humanity. You get a closed in feeling as the characters keep running into each other, almost spilling the secretes each one bears. The cast is particularly good with Andy Garcia deliver one of his best performances in years (yes, better than Pink Panther 2) playing the prison guard/struggling actor. City Island is another one of those ensemble comedies that hinges on its cast. The cast in one of these films can either make or break it and City Island scores because of its cast and a nice little story that isn't preachy, isn't too ridiculous, and can be moving at times without being a total sap fest. It's one of those little films out there that outshines the schlock Hollywood is deliver in brown paper bags every Friday.
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