Alicia I love this movie so much

Wordiezett So much average

Kodie Bird True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Fulke Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.

Rishi Davass There are only a handful of films I keep on my shelf... films that I come back to year after year. City Island is one of them.It is packed with charm, impeccable humour, likable characters and a great plot.Its one of those films that will keep you hysterically entertained and warm your heart simultaneously! A must see for anyone who enjoys clever story development and outrageous endings....

Erik Stuborn Well, well, in this movie are so many coincidences meeting together to be credible, but apparently is one of those movies that Americans love (just look at that score on IMDb, which seems a bit undeserved).***BIG spoiler***A dysfunctional family —that really is not so— in the midst of a lot of happy coincidences that lead them to... well, to the usual place. Four members family, boy, girl, mom, dad; beautiful (and kind of exotic) urban landscape, nice house, everything seems to be wrong but —don't worry, because, as you expected...— it will be fixed, magically.***END of the BIG spoiler***Sometimes wants to be a comedy, but I do not laugh at all, sometimes intended to have the realistic touch of family drama, but fails.To spend an hour and a half lightly, after suspension of disbelief.

spelvini The first thing that may strike the viewer about the excellently-paced inside-joke feature City Island is the voice over of the lead character Vince Rizzo as he relates the history of the island and how it interacts to other inhabitants in the New York area. This isn't much of a digression as it is background on how Vince Rizzo thinks and in retrospect, this particular detail could have been improved to make the most of the theme of the film, which following your heart truthfully is always the easiest road to happiness.On City Island, New York, Vince Rizzo (Andy Garcia) makes a living as a corrections officer while his wife Joyce Rizzo (Julianna Margulies) holds a job as a secretary as their daughter Vivian (Dominik García-Lorido) attends university upstate. Vince has dreamed of an acting career for years and has memorized all of Marlon Brando's best scenes, while also sneaking away one night a week to take acting classes in the city. When Vince discovers young Tony (Steven Strait) locked up in jail he realizes that the young man is his biological son and has him released in his custody. Pretending to his wife and children that the gesture is based in good faith only, Vince puts Tony to work rebuilding his garage, but Joyce is more than curious, and in more than platonic ways. Meanwhile Vivian has her own secrets, and son Vince Jr. (Ezra Miller) exhibits a young boy's fascination with a next-door neighbor that seems a little too grown up. When Vince is urged by his acting partner Molly (Emily Mortimer) to attend an open call for a film, a surprising opportunity opens up, and Vince finds he must face facts and tell everything.In regards to "happiness", the film seems to want to have its cake, and eat it too. On the one hand it has an excellent cast, all top-notch actors in complete command of their instruments, but who all have to make the most of a thinly script with one or two good ideas that are played into the ground. It's okay though because the movie will bring a smile to your face, even if you might not be in on the inside jokes about what being an actor really means.They say that actors live lives of quiet desperation, always wanting to play the great role that will allow their souls freedom and a chance to proclaim their secret desires to the world. Vince's own repressed desire to act, like "Brando" and involvement with fellow acting student Emily Mortimer's Molly leads him to visualizing a new life for himself, and is leading him into an incipient love affair with the actress.Any actor watching this movie (and it is for actors) will laughingly cringe as he watches Vince audition with an affected Marlon Brando mannerism that has become the identifying joke for many comedians through the years making fun of the actor. Why or how the casting director asks Vince to stay is a mystery, but remains one of the plot points in the film that keep us watching to see just how far this comic love story will carry us.The funny bits of business in the movie make up for the overall lack of structure. This is a comedy of manners, and the family that is reunited at the end is one dysfunctional, but happy union. It's a surprise that this is what the film has been moving toward all the time. At times it alternately feels like so many things. All in all it doesn't hit very hard, and it leaves you with a great feeling.It's too bad that the story line involving Emily Mortimer's acting partner Molly doesn't carry more substance. With Julianna Margulies' affection-starved Joyce Rizzo on the move in a love embrace with a younger man (no spoilers her- you'll know who it is in the first twenty minutes of the movie), we are led to believe that this will be a marriage drama. It's a great turn-around and will surprise you to boot.

ctomvelu1 A dysfunctional family living in the Bronx is headed up by a dad who works as a prison guard by day and takes acting classes at night. No one in the family knows about this, and he isn't about to tell them. The stay-at-home wife suspects he's having an affair. Dad never made it to college, and Mom had to drop out of college when she became pregnant. So they live their lives in noisy despair, constantly yelling at one another. Their daughter is a college dropout who works as a stripper, which is her deep dark secret. Their son is a brainiac who is too bored to finish high school, and who becomes fascinated with a heavyset neighbor who operates a website showing her cooking. Into their lives comes an ex-con who is the husband's son from a previous relationship. Only the husband knows this, and brings the guy home under the pretext of giving him a job working on the house. Complications understandably ensue. This indie is laced with bits of humor. Only the ending is contrived. The rest is highly watchable, thanks largely to Andy Garcia as a middle-aged man at a crossroads. And Juliana Marguelies is radiant as the frustrated housefrau. Worth a watch.