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The Movie: A well-acted and rewarding picture, if not without some problems, "Two Family House" won the award for best dramatic feature at Sundance. It's not completely a drama, though - there's light touches of comedy to keep the film from going too heavy. Taking place on Staten Island in 1956, the film revolves around Buddy Visalo (Michael Rispoli), who dreams of becoming a singer but is stuck in a normal, low-key existence with his wife Estelle (Katherine Narducci), who is satisfied with her place. They end up getting a new place, though - and that's where things become complicated. Buddy buys a fairly run-down two story house - they'll live on the top and they're going to turn the downstairs into a bar. The upstairs, though, is already held by Jim O'Neary (Kevin Conway) and his pregnant wife Mary (Kelly Macdonald), who are kindly asked to move but refuse. Buddy's about fed up at one point, and decides to simply throw them out of the house. But, when he attempts to forcibly remove them, Mary goes into labor and gives birth to a child. It's about that time that Jim also leaves. Although she still has to leave, Buddy feels bad about throwing her out and sets her up in a little place down the street. The two end up spending more and more time together, as Buddy's wife has hardly ever listened to him, and when she does, she often seems to interrupt him to point out his failures. Performances are generally good, although some fare better than others. Rispoli is likable and sympathetic as Buddy. MacDonald doesn't do a great deal with her role, keeping it a rather unengaging character. Narducci as Estelle plays her part as the negative wife quite well. The screenplay is filled with intelligent dialogue and characters are mostly well-written and fully realized. What I really didn't like about the film and starts to ruin some of it is the narration by a character, which occasionally goes on and on explaining the details of what's happening in the film, what the characters are feeling, etc. It's a little more satisfying to seek these details out ourselves. I also liked spending time with these realistic-feeling characters, but I must say that at 105 minutes, it's about 10 minutes longer than it probably should have been. It's a very good little drama/comedy, but some little fixes could have made it a more enjoyable feature. Still, although it got awards at Sundance, it never gained much of an audience in theaters. Hopefully, it will find a better reception on video and DVD. The DVD VIDEO: "Two Family House" is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen from Universal. As I've seen with almost all of the other titles that Universal distributes for Lion's Gate when they reach DVD, they presentation is decent, but not particularly great. Sharpness is fair; some scenes seem intentionally soft for a period look, but others become noticably a bit much on the soft side. Dimly lit scenes in particular seemed to be murky and undefined. Some minor pixelation does appear, but I didn't find it distracting. Print flaws are very minor - there's only one or two speckles throughout the film, but the majority of it remains clear and clean. Flesh tones mostly appeared natural, but looked slightly reddish in a couple of scenes. Colors are fairly low-key, appearing natural and clean, but intentionally not bold or vibrant. This is a decent effort, but nothing great. SOUND: "Two Family House" is presented in Dolby 2.0; it's all dialogue-driven. There are occasional classic pop tunes that come into play - they sound perfectly fine; warm and clear. Dialogue remains natural and easily understood, as well. MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus that use film-themed images. EXTRAS:: The trailer. Final Thoughts: "Two Family House" is a well-acted and written comedy/drama that, although not without some flaws, is still certainly worth a look. Universal's DVD though, is pretty bare of features and has only decent effort in terms of the audio/video. Recommended as a rental. 
Film Grade The Film *** DVD Grades Video 82/B = (328/400 possible points) Audio: 82/B = (328/400 possible points) Extras: 70/C- = (210/300 possible points) Menus: 70/C- = (140/200 possible points) Value: 80/B- = (240/300 possible points) TOTAL POINTS:1246/1600 DVD GRADE:C/77% FILM GRADE: *** DVD GRADE: C |