A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I really enjoyed this outrageously funny and heartfelt movie! ! It has the story of a very dysfunctional family who all have their secrets to hide. The secrets the family members hide from each other continue to pile up and make this film impossible not to laugh out loud at least once! It's a very awkward comedy in places, a little disturbing sometimes too, but having said that, it's also very moving, and I think it's impossible not to enjoy. The climax has a twisted element which kept me guessing. This is a great example of amazing great casting, and great performances throughout. Andy Garcia is awesome in every way, as always. The wife is believable and the sons are hilarious, but I don't want to give too much away! See this if you like movies with a great story!

A dysfunctional family living in the Bronx is headed up by a dad who works as a prison guard by day and takes acting classes at night. No one in the family knows about this, and he isn't about to tell them. The stay-at-home wife suspects he's having an affair. Dad never made it to college, and Mom had to drop out of college when she became pregnant. So they live their lives in noisy despair, constantly yelling at one another. Their daughter is a college dropout who works as a stripper, which is her deep dark secret. Their son is a brainiac who is too bored to finish high school, and who becomes fascinated with a heavyset neighbor who operates a website showing her cooking. Into their lives comes an ex-con who is the husband's son from a previous relationship. Only the husband knows this, and brings the guy home under the pretext of giving him a job working on the house. Complications understandably ensue. This indie is laced with bits of humor. Only the ending is contrived. The rest is highly watchable, thanks largely to Andy Garcia as a middle-aged man at a crossroads. And Juliana Marguelies is radiant as the frustrated housefrau. Worth a watch.

City Island is a relatively paradoxical movie.The comedy aspect is enjoyable with flying dialogues, good quid pro quos and pretty funny scenes. But the drama aspect is bland and unfolds badly. This part could have used a stronger development to make it more interesting, and this would have made a great comedy-drama mix. The sincerity that emerges from the script is touching though. The movie is dynamic and not lengthy at all.Nothing to complain about the actors, their performances were pretty good overall, special mention to Andy Garcia.The direction wasn't particularly extraordinary but has no big flaw.

This movie will take you down several paths, the individual lives of each member of this crazy, dramatic, dysfunctional family, where at first you think the ends of those paths are obvious, then twists and turns into something completely unexpected. There is drama, humor, and some very touching moments where, honestly, I cried, laughed, disagreed with, agreed with, then shook my head in wonder at the genius and insight of the writers of this story. If you have come from a dysfunctional family (really, who hasn't) and recovered, or not, you will truly appreciate this story at many levels. A refreshing change from the typical Hollywood fare.