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Movies / On DVD / Friends and Family
Friends and Family

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Friends and Family (2002)

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Reviews Counted: 18

Fresh: 8

Rotten:10

Average Rating: 4.4/10

Runtime: 87 mins

Genre: Comedies

Synopsis: Stephen and Danny are a gay male couple who are enforcers for a New York Mafia family. Stephen's parents, who know that their son is gay but not that he works for the Mafia, decide to pay a surprise visit, sending Stephen and Danny into a panic.... Stephen and Danny are a gay male couple who are enforcers for a New York Mafia family. Stephen's parents, who know that their son is gay but not that he works for the Mafia, decide to pay a surprise visit, sending Stephen and Danny into a panic. Hilarious complications ensue, as an ever expanding crazy-quilt of characters adds to the fun.

"Friends and Family" is a seamless and exuberant blend of the witty screwball comedies of the 1930s with the riotous unpredictability of French farce. Gorgeously shot in lavish urban settings, "Friends and Family" is the independent film that doesn't look like an independent film. Blessed with an expert cast including both seasoned veterans and exciting newcomers, "Friends and Family" revives a bygone tone of elegance and urbanity and weds it to an up-to-the-minute sensibility that is very much of today.

Presiding over the mayhem are Tony Lo Bianco as mob boss Victor Patrizzi, Greg Lauren and Christopher Gartin as Stephen and Danny, Beth Fowler ("Sister Act") as the force of nature otherwise known as Stephen's mother, Tovah Feldshuh ("A Walk on the Moon") as a midwestern housewife to whom there is more than meets the eye, familiar comic actors Edward Hibbert, Meshach Taylor and Louis Zorich and, in her first screen role in forty years, Anna Maria Alberghetti as Stella Patrizzi. [More]

Starring: Tony Lo Bianco, Greg Lauren, Christopher Gartin, Tovah Feldshuh

Starring: Tony Lo Bianco, Greg Lauren, Christopher Gartin, Tovah Feldshuh, Rebecca Creskoff, Beth Fowler, Edward Hibbert, Meshach Taylor, Brian Lane Green, Anna Maria Alberghetti

Director: Kristen Coury

Director: Kristen Coury
Screenwriter: Joseph Triebwasser
Producer: Kristen Coury, Joseph Triebwasser, Linda Moran
Composer: Kurt Hoffman
Studio: HERE Films

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Friends and Family

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
10/02/02
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall
Ratings Image

Which is worse? Lame jokes about gays or lame jokes about the mob?

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
12/26/03
Jay Boyar
Orlando Sentinel
Ratings Image

You haven't lived until you've seen a bunch of straight goombas taking a crash course in swish history, the better to pose as employees of a catering company.

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
12/25/03
Steve Schneider
Orlando Weekly
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Is the movie finding its jokes in subverting the stereotypes or in the stereotypes themselves?

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
10/30/03
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com
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Makes the clobbering minds behind My Big Fat Greek Wedding seem the apotheosis of subtlety and nuance by comparison.

Full Review Source: Film Journal International | comment Comment
10/22/03
David Noh
Film Journal International
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A passably entertaining comedy of accretion that doesn't amount to much.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
10/03/03
Ken Fox
TV Guide's Movie Guide
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There's no rhythm or style to any of it, just the dismal feeling that the filmmakers have seen La Cage Aux Folles and The Godfather too many times.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
10/03/03
Randy Cordova
Arizona Republic
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An overloaded, slow-moving series of predictable jokes and forced situations.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
10/02/03
Dave Kehr
New York Times
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First-timer Coury's fast pace can't outrun Joseph Triebwasser's predictable script, saddled with mobster clichés and queer stereotypes.

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
09/30/03
Jorge Morales
Village Voice
Ratings Image

the making of Friends and Family must have been more than watching it, but not much more.

Full Review Source: PopcornQ | comment Comment
08/21/03
Brandon Judell
PopcornQ
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"The Sopranos" meet "La Cage Aux Folles," with a heavy and happy emphasis on humor which camps up the gay stereotypes.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
07/30/03
Phil Hall
Film Threat
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Never thought I'd say this about a film, but it's just not gay enough. Wait to rent it.

Full Review Source: Supercala.com | comment Comment
06/27/03
John Venable
Supercala.com
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Wants very much to mimic the screwball comedies of the forties with a gay twist, but the script and direction are simply too clumsy to carry it off.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
06/20/03
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
Ratings Image

The movie is slick, the boys are gorgeous, and most of it is innocent fun, but the romp is spoiled by the subplot in very bad taste.

Full Review Source: TheMovieChicks.com | comment Comment
06/20/03
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com
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Predictable fun, but fun all the same.

Full Review Source: Dallas Morning News | comment Comment
06/19/03
Philip Wuntch
Dallas Morning News
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Despite their missteps, first-timers Kristen Coury, as director, and writer Joseph Triebwasser create enough silliness to keep things amusing.

Full Review Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel | comment Comment
05/23/03
Laura Kelly
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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It's a dreary, 'when will it end' Birdcage rip-off.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
05/16/03
E! Online
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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Painless, sweet comedy.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
05/15/03
Sheri Linden
Hollywood Reporter
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Director Kristen Coury has made a technically polished first film, but her sense of comic timing and sexual politics is strictly borscht belt.

Full Review Source: L.A. Weekly | comment Comment
05/14/03
Chuck Wilson
L.A. Weekly
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Related Forums for Friends and Family

Silly fun for smart people!
by: emiliamartyboy 5/1/03


Official Web Site
by: 91602 4/28/03


This was a great film!
by: Schwook 3/27/03
See All

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