CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Sabah Hensley This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Dragana I LOVED this film! It's fun, it's witty and clever. It has "a soul", not pretentious yet deep. As it goes on, you feel more and more connected to the characters and truly live the story with them. The fact that it contains some elements of fantasy, such as exceptionally good luck, doesn't rip the story of it's credibility, but gives it that festive, Christmassy feeling. And somewhat stereotypical idea of Italian family brought to an absurd at times just adds to fun and good humor, as I guess it was attempted (successfully). You can watch it from the adult or children's or even cynical point of view and still find something to connect to. I saw it for the first time a long time ago, and I watch it every now and then for years. I was surprised to find out that so few people have heard of it. When I think of it, I just can not remember anything I didn't like about it. It's one of my favorite movies.

PonderosaGal I can't believe I wasted 10 bucks on this movie about a bunch of Northern Italians! I'm Sicilian and my family acts nothing like this. We don't scream and yell at each other just for the heck of it, we're not mean, we're not aggressive, and we don't try to bring each other down. We're easygoing and friendly, but we can get feisty when it's needed.The overall story is great, hands-down, I won't deny it that. But the Northerners get on my nerves and left me with a headache when it was finally over. Too much negativity. The only parts I enjoyed was seeing Tony Sirico (Paulie Walnuts, The Sopranos) in his small role.The Italians own us, but they are NOT of us!! Unless you like true stories, if you're Sicilian and proud of it please save your money and 1 hour and 41 minutes of your life and do not waste your time with this film like I SHOULD have.

lastliberal This is one of those films where you just stay glued to the story to see what happens next. It was completely 180 degrees from what I thought it was going to be.I was expecting a story about how the first New York State lottery winner dealt with his new riches, and what I found was the Italian-American version of It's A Wonderful Life.This movie has it all - mobsters (of course, it's about Italian-Americans), dysfunctional families, drinking and gambling, but, most of all, a whole lot of laughs.You just can't believe how incredibly lucky Frank Pesce (young Anthony LaPaglia) is. This guy sets stabbed in the gut and comes up roses. He is drifting about aimlessly in a family where dad (Danny Aiello in a super role) has a gambling problem. These two together are a riot! It even includes the real lottery winner, Frank Pesce. Lanie Kazan from My Big Fat Greek Wedding played a great Italian-American mom. Happy Mother's Day.You should check this out if you like Italian-American comedy. Capice?

specwargru This picture hit the hard luck family right on the nose. A hardworking family with age old values struggles with life while one floats along with an odd sort of luck. you can see the frustration between a focused father and a happy go lucky dreamer son as he bounces from dead end jobs to affiliating with the seedy underworld mob types. Good laughs and near misses in tragedy fuel this well developed plot. The ending is unbelievable and will leave you with a warm feeling in your heart. you will believe that anyone can triumph no matter how bad the situation is.