Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 20-March-05
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Two Family House (2000)

When I first saw "Two Family House" (and subsequently added it to my Top Ten list for 2000), the phenomenon known as "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" was just a twinkle in Nia Vardalos' eye. Looking back, I have to wonder how drivel like that became a mega-grossing sleeper hit just two years after a charmer like this went unnoticed. Written and directed by Raymond De Felitta, "Two Family House" has many of the same characteristics of Vardalos' sitcomy smash, including a strong ethnic flavor, an endearing main character with family issues, and an ultimately feel-good vibe. The difference is, it's a little more serious and a whole lot better.

De Felitta based his film on the life of his uncle, and his attachment to the setting and subject is evident. Set in 1950s New York, the movie tells the story of Buddy Visalo (Michael Rispoli), a nice Italian guy whose wishes have never come true. As a young man he lost the chance to become a pop star; in his prime he watched several attempts at self-employment go bust; and now, on the brink of middle age, he is getting flak from his small-minded wife (Katherine Narducci) for seeking one last shot at happiness. Despite her nagging, Buddy buys a run-down house that he hopes to turn into a piano bar with upstairs apartment, the perfect setting in which a man might feel like the comfortable master of his own domain.

As usual, Buddy's dreams don't go exactly as planned. In addition to marital clashes, he suffers from a dwindling savings account and the expectations of a tightly knit community that watches and judges his every move. His friends and family cannot understand why he isn't content to live with his in-laws and split his time between a factory job and the local bar like everyone else of his kind. As if this weren't pressure enough, he's initially forced to share his new house with an Irish drunkard and his much younger wife (Kelly Macdonald), who eventually make their separate exits under shocking circumstances that set the neighborhood buzzing.

Buddy's incidental connection to these tenants' problems, so unlooked-for and so unlike anything in his experience, proves to be his salvation. Partly out of attraction but mostly out of loneliness, he begins to help the Irish woman in her hour of need. Their growing friendship causes him to see the world (and his life) with new eyes and pushes him farther and farther from home. The inevitable climax comes in an excellent, heart-wrenching scene in which his wife confronts him at the local diner surrounded by her parents, her girlfriends, and every other member of their clan — and for the first time he sees them for what they really are.

"Two Family House" isn't always subtle (it starts off by listing Buddy's failures so you can feel sorry for him, and his wife is a freakin' nightmare), but it's a tender movie that makes high hopes and happy endings seem real. If lesser pictures can do it (which they apparently do), this one ought to strike a chord with the dreamer in everyone.

Copyright © 2005 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.