Two Family House (2000)

88% of critics liked it
(34 reviews)
77% of users liked it
(950 ratings)

Raymond De Felitta directs this warm, colorful tale about a blue collar dreamer who gets more than he bargained for after buying a two-family house. Set during the 1950s in Staten Island, the film charts the financial failures of Buddy (Michael Rispoli), a nice-guy entrepreneur who has perpetual bad… More Raymond De Felitta directs this warm, colorful tale about a blue collar dreamer who gets more than he bargained for after buying a two-family house. Set during the 1950s in Staten Island, the film charts the financial failures of Buddy (Michael Rispoli), a nice-guy entrepreneur who has perpetual bad luck. While he was in the army, he sang songs on stage to bolster troop morale. During one performance, he received a warm reception from none other than Arthur Godfrey, who invited him to audition when he got back to the U.S. After the war, Buddy's crushingly pragmatic wife Estelle (Katherine Narducci,) along with her very traditional parents, dissuade him from a life in showbiz. After a decade of living with Estelle's parents and failing repeatedly at one get-rich-quick scheme after another, Buddy buys a rundown house with the idea of refurbishing the second floor for living quarters and the first for a pizzeria where he can sing. Estelle grudgingly goes along with it, secretly hoping that this plan will fail so disastrously that he will stop dreaming and lead a "normal" life. Not until he finalizes the purchase does Buddy realize that the house has a pair of squatters: Jim (Kevin Conway), a drunken Irish immigrant, and his much younger, very pregnant girlfriend Mary (Kelly Macdonald). Buddy tries to evict the recalcitrant drunkard, but he refuses to leave. Just as matters are about to come to fisticuffs, Mary goes into labor. To the surprise of everyone, the child is of mixed raced -- the product of a brief tryst that Mary had with an African-American man a while back. Disgusted and disappointed, Jim shuffles off never to be seen. Buddy hasn't quite the heart to evict a young single mother, nor the strength to resist his wife's perpetual nagging, so he quietly pays for a room in a neighborhood boarding house. Though Mary is initially very mistrustful of Buddy's intentions, the two slowly realize that they are in fact soul mates. This film was highly praised at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 47 min.
Directed By: Raymond De Felitta
Written By: Raymond DeFelitta
Genres: Drama, Romance

In Theaters: Oct 6, 2000 Wide
On DVD: May 29, 2001
Studio: Lions Gate Releasing

Critic Reviews

Nick Davis, Nick's Flick Picks
Unfortunately, the look, pace, and structure of the film stop feeling elegantly restrained and pass into something like boilerplate mediocrity.
David Nusair, Reel Film Reviews
Low key yet utterly charming...

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Featured Audience Ratings

Lanning :

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.… More
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 a must-see for any MacDonald fan like me : )
Walter M

[font=Century Gothic]In "Two Family House," Buddy Visalo(Michael Rispoli, who is excellent) has a chance to audition for Arthur Godfrey but is dissuaded because of his impending marriage to Estelle(Kathrine Narducci). In the following eleven years, they live with her… More
[font=Century Gothic]In "Two Family House," Buddy Visalo(Michael Rispoli, who is excellent) has a chance to audition for Arthur Godfrey but is dissuaded because of his impending marriage to Estelle(Kathrine Narducci). In the following eleven years, they live with her parents in Staten Island where he toils in a factory while none of his business ideas including limo driver, house painter and pizza delivery amount to much. In the spring of 1956, he decides to buy a fixer upper and live on the second floor, turning the first into a tavern. But there is a drunken reprobate and freeloader, Jim O'Neary(Kevin Conway), and his pregnant wife, Mary(Kelly Macdonald), living on the second floor and the law is on their side. But when Buddy and his friends try to forcibly evict the couple, Mary goes into labor. And boy is everybody surprised at the brown hue of the baby...[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Mildly predictable, "Two Family House" is a movie about the American dream that is equal parts funny and touching. Buddy's dream is not so much to be successful but to work at something that is his very own. In other ways, the American dream should be about a country without bigotry which it was not in the 1950's, even in the North, which are portrayed here as an era of stifling conformity where there is little[/font] [font=Century Gothic]interaction outside of one's social circle. But there is a glimmer of hope that the era of sitting in judgment will be coming to an end.[/font]