The movie centered on a young male, Angelo Barberini (Luke Kirby), who is smothered by his family and regimented Italian culture. His parents moved from Italy decade's prior and by some misstep or another, ended up in Canada instead of the inviting shores of the US. After setting the stage by showing some of Angelo's childhood, the movie quickly progresses to the present. Angelo's family finds out his secret; that he's gay, and he moves out under their protests. He runs into an old friend of his, a cop, Nino Paventi (Peter Miller), that shares his orientation, and the two seem to live happily ever after, despite their families practically disowning them. Then, after a turn of events, Nino breaks it off and marries a woman, trying to take the path of least resistance. This throws Angelo into a tailspin since his feelings are conflicted between his lost love and the reality of his sexual preference. He spends the rest of the movie trying to make it through life, figuring out what's important to him, within the confines of his existing situation.

Regardless of your sexual orientation, the movie had a lot to like. If you enjoyed the cultural stereotypes found in My Big Fat Greek Life, you'll likely enjoy the Italian stereotypes found here because when push comes to shove, they are often similar in nature. I grew up in a community full of both and while they'd deny it, both were cut from the same cloth (this is a compliment). The disbelieving parents, played aptly by veteran actor Paul Sorvino and Ginette Reno, lent an air of authenticity to the cultural aspects of the movie but also some excellent comic timing. The writing of the movie was solid with far more hits than misses in terms of the humor, if not the day-to-day life aspects of the man's life. The other characters were very competent, even good, in their roles too, often upstaging Luke's performance (although I suspect the roles were written to do just that). Most of the humor was tongue in cheek and subtle rather than the crude bathroom humor so relied upon in modern comedies so I can see why it wasn't a big hit.

The gay aspects of the movie were central but not over-played as in dramas like It's My Party, Beautiful Thing, and Lan Yu, making the movie enjoyable to folks that have moral qualms with the lifestyle. The flip side is that some in the G&L life may accuse director/writer Emile Gaudreault of selling out or going commercial because the characters aren't gay enough. The themes of self identity and cultural upbringing at odds has been done a lot in more mainstream movies, but it's balanced quite nicely here. In short, gays or straights should be able to enjoy it.

I'm going to give this one a rating of Recommended for the writing, direction, and acting, even though there were some rough spots. I'd have liked some better extras as well but the feature was fun to watch for those who pay attention. I don't profess to know what narrowly defined groups like (unless I'm part of them) but the commonality of the numerous themes here should appeal to a lot of people if they can overlook whatever single aspect they are at odds with.

Picture: The picture was presented in anamorphic widescreen color with it's original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. There was a lot of clarity and detail to be seen and only minimal grain present. The fleshtones were accurate and pattern noise barely noticeable. There were no obvious compression artifacts although I did notice some edge enhancement during the movie (and I'm not one to typically comment on it).

Sound: The audio was presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital surround English with optional English subtitles (huh?). I suppose I expected to hear it in Italian but that's okay by me too. The vocals were crisp and clear as was the music. The vast majority of sound came through the center channel or the front speakers so don't expect to use this as a demonstration disc but for the type of movie it was, the audio was fine.

Extras: There was a single sheet paper insert and some trailers to movies like The Animal.

Final Thoughts: If you're looking for a movie that bashes you over the head with various sexual identity issues in order to "prove" it is gay enough for the in-your-face types, this won't be the movie for you to watch. If, instead, you're looking for a movie about a man trying to find his way in life by accepting his needs over tradition, this will appeal to you a lot. The technical aspects were good enough as well as the creative aspects to insure a good time, for straights and gays alike.