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Katherine Narducci, Kelly Macdonald, Kevin Conway

Raymond De Felitta's Sundance 2000 Audience Winner is a sweet little romantic drama set in the insular Italian and Irish neighborhoods of 1956 Staten Island. Narrated with the conversational ease of a...( read more  read more... ) bar story, it stars Michael Rispoli as Buddy, blue-collar Italian American with big dreams, a golden voice, and a history of failed business schemes. His latest scheme involves turning a two-story firetrap into a bar with an upstairs apartment, but first he has to evict the squatters he inherited with the house: an abandoned young Irish mother (Kelly Macdonald) and her half-black child. Guilty over his hardhearted decision, he sets them up in an apartment and essentially adopts them. An unlikely friendship begins in clashes and verbal fireworks and turns into a gentle romance while Buddy confronts his own prejudice and smothering cultural values.

De Felitta is uncharacteristically generous to both his clannish working-class chorus and Buddy's wife Estelle (Kathrine Narducci, from The Sopranos), who undermines her spouse's efforts and ridicules his ambition out of sheer conformism. Rispoli, by contrast, is accepting and warm as a guy hungry for his piece of the American dream, and Macdonald's scrappy single mom is full of Irish dander that melts into a romantic sparkle and loving support. Two Family House is inspired by the true story of writer-director De Felitta's uncle, and there's an engaging modesty and loving understanding in this portrait of one man's rebellion against the stifling values and judgmental intolerance of his community. --Sean Axmaker

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77% liked it

853 ratings

Critics

88% liked it

32 critics

R, 109 min.

Directed by: Raymond De Felitta

Release Date: October 6, 2000

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DVD Release Date: May 29, 2001

Stats: 45 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (45)

  • binky013
    October 7, 2006
    binky013
    Kelly MacDonald and Michael Rispoli are wonderful together in this. I'm not big on adultery, but this is a unique love story that I enjoy every time I see it. The soundtrack is great, too. The fact that it's a true story underscores the bitterseet quality of the film. This is...( read more) a must-see for any MacDonald fan like me : )
  • NoirChick
    October 25, 2008
    NoirChick
    Absolutely charming. A true sleeper.
  • jazzmonk
    June 16, 2007
    jazzmonk
    I'll pass on adultery.

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