Leo Russo is a good dad. I mean, yeah, he’s got flaws. But you can always count on him to be there, to try.
When Leo’s son, Matthew, was little, the boy had a very hard time communicating with anybody. He was always afraid, always wrestling with something inside him. Outside of their home, he’d never say a word.
It was Leo who got the growing-like-a-weed Matthew (soon after nicknamed Sticks) interested in basketball. Leo would spend long hours shooting hoops with him in their driveway. He’d leave work early to attend practice at school. He’d go to every game.
And all that effort helped Sticks come out of himself. It helped the boy connect with the world around him. It made him an excellent player. And even now, in his senior year, Sticks runs out on the court and always acknowledges his dad in the stands with a salute-like point of his finger. In fact, the whole team cheers out the name Mr. Russo in recognition of this nice dad’s support.
But then something unexpected happens: A man approaches Leo after his son’s final game and asks what college Sticks is going to play for. And Leo replies that Sticks is going to join their family construction business after graduation.
The guy is surprised. He thinks Sticks is really good. In fact, he just so happens to be a college scout. Would Leo like him to make a few calls? Most of the college rosters are already filled, but there are always a few open spots. And some of those spots offer scholarships.
Sure enough, a school not that far away, Drexler, suggests there a spot ready for a kid like Sticks.
Leo is over the moon. His wife, Angela, and their extended family aren’t as sure about the move. But Leo notes that this is an exciting opportunity. Playing on a college team could make a world of difference for his son. It could make him even more independent.
Of course … there’s also the fact that Sticks going to school would give Leo a way to stay involved, to feel invested, to keep being the supportive dad he’s been for so many years. It would give Leo a purpose. And that’s a hole that the rest of his life hasn’t been so good at filling.
So, who’s the real beneficiary here: the struggling son or the struggling dad?
Somewhere in Queens explores the idea of finding your place and your calling in the world. And it suggests that everyone must work at answering that question for themselves.
Leo and his wife (Angela), Sticks, and the young man’s girlfriend (Dani) are all wrestling with that concept. And they’re all making an effort to deal with each other in a loving, self-sacrificial way—even though the wisest choices aren’t always apparent. In fact, some seemingly “good” choices they make turn out to be rather selfish.
Leo and Angela have a loving, though at times caustic relationship. Angela has endured a bout of cancer, and Leo supported her every step of the way. Leo is also faced with a powerful temptation, but he turns instead to his family and first love.
Speaking of being caustic, members of the extended Russo family aren’t always the most easygoing and genial people, either. But ultimately, they all prove to be concerned and caring folks as this story unfolds.
Sticks eventually finds some likeminded friends at a community college group. The support and cheer him on.
None.
Stick’s girlfriend, Dani, is a sweet and kind person, but she has a very casual attitude toward sex. She wonders why she and Sticks haven’t had it yet, even though they’ve been dating for a whole three weeks. Sticks admits that he has never slept with anyone. And she unbuckles his jeans and gets him to follow her into the backseat of his car. They begin making out before the camera cuts away.
It’s also implied that Dani has been sexually involved with quite a few guys in her short high school life. When Dani joins Sticks for his family’s Sunday dinner, Stick’s male cousins eye the pretty girl. Ultimately, it appears that Dani’s discomfort with Sticks’ obvious love for her causes her to end their relationship rather than get any more serious. We see her kissing another random guy in a public area.
Leo and the Russo Construction business are currently working for a recently widowed client named Pamela. And the attractive woman takes a liking to Leo. She openly flirts with him. And that encounter spurs Leo to go home and flirt and kiss his wife. Later, Pamela welcomes a lightly inebriated Leo into her house. And after a bit of flirtation she kisses him and casually suggests they go further. Leo decides that he must leave.
A group of wives talk about their sexual lives and the need for wine to make it all happen. Several adults suggest that teens at a dance are certainly having sex. And someone justifies being sexually free, declaring that “the only time you’re guaranteed, is right now.” A newly married couple, who were married five months earlier, have a community celebration for their newborn.
After a loud family argument, a drunken Leo gets into a physical tussle with his good friend Petey. The two men wrestle about, ripping each other’s jackets and crashing down on an outdoor planter. Leo ends up with large scrapes on his hand and face.
The Russo family and almost everyone in this movie are pretty foul-mouthed. Their conversations are spattered with more than 30 f-words (and a half-dozen more f-word derivatives), 20 s-words, eight uses of “a–hole,” and several uses each of “h—,” “b–ch” and “d–n.”
God’s and Jesus’ names are misused about five times total (with “d–n” being tacked on to the end of two misuses of God’s name). We also hear crude slang references to the male and female anatomy.
The adults of the Russo family attend several different parties and celebrations and drink beer, wine and booze heavily. (That includes what appears to be a high school dance.) They drink a lot of beer and wine at Sunday dinners, too. On a couple of occasions, the drinking leaves some inebriated.
There are a couple of flatulence jokes in the mix. Leo manipulates Dani to lie to Sticks; eventually he admits that his “good intentions” were selfish. Leo lies about being mugged after getting into a light scuffle with a friend.
Many will fondly remember Ray Romano’s nine-year run in the popular family comedy Everybody Loves Raymond. It was a beloved TV show about the bigger-than-life struggles of a beleaguered Italian-American dad and his extended family.
When fans of that show hear about, or see the trailer for, the new dramedy Somewhere in Queens, it’ll be easy for them to leap to the conclusion that writer/director Romano has returned to his everyman sitcom roots.
And in a way, that’s almost true.
Romano has crafted a film about a family in Queens that’s funny, awkward, well-acted and poignant. Teens, parents and married couples struggle to find their niche, a place where they fit and function well.
That said, this R-rated movie delivers a much edgier and at times very foul-mouthed version of that hangdog-dad-in-a-blue-collar-world kind of story. Perhaps the filmmakers believed that delivering a cruder, harder-drinking worldview and peppering it with lots of nasty language would make everything here feel more authentic or identifiable.
What it actually does, however, is make Somewhere in Queens far less watchable. And that means that discerning viewers and families who are in the mood for something like this movie should probably stay home and dial up some reruns.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
