Somewhere in Queens
Ray Romano helms a slam dunk in his winning look at a courtside dad.
Helicopter parents: Ray Romano and Laurie Metcalf
Comedy legend Ray Romano is best known for his work on the small screen in the American sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, which ran nearly a decade from 1996-2005. His big screen roles include The Big Sick, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman, and the endless Ice Age franchise, in which Romano voices the mammoth Manny. For the first time, Somewhere in Queens finds him sitting in the director’s chair, where he also serves as co-writer, producer, and leading man. Romano says the director’s hat was forced upon him, and as it turns out, he wears it rather well. From the first to last frame, his labour of love has all of the care a great character study needs. Thoughtful and genuine, it’s a fully-realised family portrait, complete with growing pains.
Leo Russo (Romano) quietly devotes his days to his father’s family construction business, largely taking a backseat to his big, opinionated Italian-American family. He lives vicariously through Stallone’s Rocky and his son ‘Sticks’, star of the Glendale Cougars basketball team. In the stands, Leo finds the sense of purpose lacking in his day-to-day. He prides himself on never missing a game and when the team chants ‘Mr. Russo’, Leo seems just an epic training montage away from transforming into the man he could have been. When Sticks gets the opportunity for a life-changing scholarship, Leo’s good intentions threaten to impose his own mid-life crisis onto his son’s future.
Romano’s Leo is so desperate to give Sticks what he didn’t receive from his own father, that he fails to recognise his flagrant foul against his own son — not to mention the violation toward the larger family dynamic. It’s not very common to see father/son stories played out on the big screen, particularly with a middle-aged dad as the focus. In a role perfectly tailored to his talents, Romano has never been better, delivering a career-best performance. He wisely surrounds himself with a solid ensemble cast, including Tony Lo Bianco, Sebastian Maniscalco, Jennifer Esposito, along with theatre and sitcom stalwart Laurie Metcalf as Leo’s hardy wife Angela. In a directorial debut backed by character driven humour and pathos, Romano delivers an underdog dad to root for.
CHAD KENNERK
Cast: Ray Romano, Laurie Metcalf, Sebastian Maniscalco, Jacob Ward, Sadie Stanley, Jennifer Esposito, Dierdre Friel, Jon Manfrellotti, Tony Lo Bianco, Franco Maicas, Danny Garcia, Erik Griffin, June Gable, Jennifer Simard.
Dir Ray Romano, Pro Albert Berger, Ron Yerxa, Ray Romano and Mark Stegemann, Screenplay Ray Romano and Mark Stegemann, Ph Maceo Bishop, Pro Des Annie Simeone Morales, Ed Robert Nassau, Music Mark Orton, Costumes Megan Stark Evans.
Papa Al Productions/Bonafide Productions-Roadside Attractions/Lionsgate.
106 mins. USA. 2022. US Rel: 21 April 2023. Cert. R.
