City Island 2009
I had never heard of this movie, but it was included in a release of Blu-ray overstocks with about 60 other titles at Dollar Tree. Sifting through all of the titles, City Island got pretty good reviews with 81% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes and 66 at Metacritic, which is pretty respectable, so I bought it along with 14 other movies. It plays a little like Down and Out in Beverly Hills as a dysfunctional family living on City Island in the Bronx has a visitor who helps them sort out their problems. The setup of everything seems a little unlikely and the acting can be a little over the top at times, but I think the performances and characters are grounded well enough to pull it off. It still has the feel of a low budget indie movie, which I think helps lower expectations and makes you appreciate what does work while ignoring all the clumsy stuff. If you accept it that way, it is entertaining enough and Andy Garcia gets a lot of great scenes, but there are some good supporting performances as well from Julianna Margulies, Steven Strait, and Emily Mortimer. I didn’t realize that Garcia’s characters daughter in the movie is his real life daughter until I looked it up later. You also get to see a little of City Island, a unique locale in the Bronx.
Written: 22 Sep 2018
Owned on: Blu-ray, Digital