Everybody Wants to Be Italian
Are all relationships based on lies? Jake Bianski runs a fish market in north Boston, surrounded by Italians. For years, he's carried a torch for Isabella, an ex-girlfriend now married with three children and no interest in Jake. Yet, he tells everyone she's his girlfriend, including Marisa, a veterinarian his employees set him up with at the Italian singles club. She's interested in him until he tells her about his girlfriend, then he's persistent in asking her to be his friend. As the friendship bumps along, Jake realizes that reality may be better than fantasy, but what if Isabella changes her mind about Jake, and what if it comes out that Marisa, like Jake, isn't Italian?
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- Cast:
- Jay Jablonski , Cerina Vincent , John Kapelos , John Enos III , Richard Libertini , Marisa Petroro , Perry Anzilotti
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Reviews
When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.
Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.
While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
This movie is simply dismal. The script is among the worst I've ever seen brought even to home video. Just about every scene is an awkward, poorly set up contrivance, the jokes are howlers. And once again we have actors overdoing the stereotype of an Italian-American accent by using a New York accent...in a movie that takes place in Boston.Everything about this movie was bad, the conversations between the Italian and Italian-American characters being the very worst of it. Not five seconds goes by without a cliché, which almost becomes comforting in its predictability.For a while I watched this movie just to see if it was as dismal as it seemed when I first tuned in. It was. I went against my rule of always watching movies through to the end, but ended up turning it off. I have no idea how it even ends, and I don't even care.
Jake (Jay Jablonski) is still stuck on his old, Italian-American girlfriend. Nevermind that she married someone else eight years ago, after Jake cheated on her, and has had three children. Jake still shows up at her apartment with flowers and his declarations of love. This not only annoys his ex and her family, but nearly everyone Jake knows. From his florist, Theresa (Penny Marshall) to his fellow workers at a fish market, Jake is constantly urged to "move on" in the romance department. Most of the market's employees are Italian but Jake is not, having inherited the fishy place from his deceased, Polish-American parents. One night, one of the guys spies a beautiful woman, Marisa (Cerisa Vincent) and invites her to the next Italian club dance to meet Jake. Although she tries to tell him that she is not Italian, he doesn't listen. Later, this man urges Jake to attend the dance and pretend that HE, Jake, is Italian as well, to impress Marisa. Very reluctantly, Jake agrees. Well, well, the two really do seem to have eyes for each other, although Jake makes no bones about telling Marisa that he is already "involved" with someone else. For a quick revenge, Marisa runs up the restaurant bill on their first date! Ha ha. However, the two decide to become "just friends" and pal around together as running companions, etc. What follows is a romantic cat-and-mouse game, especially since Jake's ex does appear to be casting eyes at him again. Will Jake and Marisa realize they are meant for each other and will it matter when they both find out that neither of them is Italian? This is an extremely enjoyable and clever romantic comedy set in a lovely old neighborhood in Boston. The cast is delightful, although few of them are familiar to most audiences. The two leads, Jablonski and Vincent, are very attractive and winning while the Italian-heritaged workers of the fish market are a stitch and more. Costumes are also lovely, with Vincent looking sharp at every turn. Yes, occasionally, the situations become slightly risqué and the language a bit salty. But, overall, with its very funny script and well-paced, secure direction, this is a true gem for nearly everybody, Italian or not. Want to laugh tonight, folks? Search high and low for this very good film.
There are a couple of flaws with this film. It feel slightly untidy and rough around the edges. It obviously lacked funding and was clearly targeted at the Sat night American market. It lacks the strong script of an independent film, but also the big budget for a good cinematographer, or at least a screenwriter to tie up the loose ends.I was expecting two distinctive things from this film - stereotypical Italians and one dimensional characters, orbiting the main cast and providing us with some ethnicity based comedy. At one point we see a man in a white vest shouting from a window!!! The second aspect of the film I was expecting was two lovable main characters. Unfortunately Cerina Vincent failed to soften at any point during the film. I understand this is how her character is written, but any characteristic which would endear her to the audience failed to materialise, even towards the end of the film. Jay Jablonski put in a surprisingly good performance as a rude, childish but ultimately likable stalker. He just about managed to rescue his character despite the poor script. Unfortunately his character lacked emotional consistency and therefore came across as slightly mentally ill, perhaps with a touch of schizophrenia.If you like hearing Italian dialogue in a film, (which was all very authentic, apart from the two old people), then go see Everybody Wants to Be Italian, but there isn't much else holding it together.
Not too much pasta and sauce on this plate but plenty of fun inside the shell's. I wouldn't call this the best romantic comedy I have seen over the last 2-3 years but what it had for me was a refreshing blend of ingredients that didn't upset my stomach. A good blend of old and new from a cast that worked well on screen together. Once I got past the notion that this guy Jake, was held up on the same girl for 8 years, I was fine. The scene when Jake was with all the educated Harvard types and he broke down his business model was a fun twist, we got to learn that this guy was more than a good looking frame. I have seen critical reviews the last three days and I for one just don't see where they are coming from, I'd suggest you get out and see the film for yourself. I don't know how much the title hurts the film, but I certainly don't think people should take it so literal, it would seem that the writer wanted to express that everyone wants to be passionate, needed, and in search of a sole mate?