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Mambo Italiano

Mambo Italiano

List Price: $26.96
Your Price: $20.22
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: One of the BEST movies, ever !
Review: I loved this movie ... it presented a complicated, funny, tender and honest view of gay life ... it should be required viewing for families of gay men!
And as a gay man, I just love watching it for fun!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: My Big Fat [Homosexual] Gay Life!
Review: I read some reviews about this film when it was released that called it the [homosexual] "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". And while it plays a little too heavily on the Italian-american stereotype, it is a charming film about a young man coming to terms with who he is and his neurotic family's response.

Angelo is a nice young man who was always picked on in school, even by his one-time closest friend, Nino. As adults, Nino and Angelo are reunited and become lovers. Everything is perfect for the young couple until Angelo decides he wants to come out to his family. Once Nino's mother finds out, things begin to unhinge. It is easy to root for the once ostracized Angelo, who always took the abuse of others while keeping his sexual orientation private. Anyone who has felt outcast or different in their lives will be able to understand his situation and determination to live his life honestly and openly.

This is not a perfect film but it does have its touching moments and enough laughs to keep you interested. Though I didn't like it as much as "Greek Wedding", I still think it is worth watching.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: humour , honesty and class
Review: I saw Mambo Italiano 4 times in the cinema and loved it more with each viewing. Only paranoid persons would complain about any of the characters by suggesting they are stereotypical. And it is foolish to compare this fine romantic comedy to My Big Fat Greek Wedding just because of the ethnic theme. (MBFGW was a major disappointment to me - I thought it was whimsical, but bloated and forced). At least this CANADIAN film had the integrity to keep its original location rather than pretending to be set in America to suck up to the $US.

Mambo Italiano is fast, clever, beautiful to look at, edited to perfection, gives very honest and very rare glimpses of suburban gay life (just as true here in Brisbane, Australia as in Montreal). Also it's very well acted by all the ensemble - some of Canada's very best.

Mambo Italiano should adapt readily to the small screen, because it is plot and character driven, but it's definitely worth cranking the volume and sitting through to the credits when Cake's version of "I Will Survive" will leave you fully charged.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excelent Movie!
Review: I saw this movie in theaters before its official release date and it was awesome. Hillarious and funny, it makes the watcher laugh and laugh again. Excelent movie, I highly recommend it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent, all around funny film
Review: I very much enjoyed this film ... in the same genre of "All Over the Guy" ... gay people in a positive light ... what a concept!
I'm sure you can find it cheaper than Amazon.com, but it's worth buying or renting for sure (...).

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great blend of ethnic and gay idiosyncracies
Review: I was a bit apprehensive to view this film. I'm gay and Italian and I was quite worried that an attempt to portray a combo of both in merely 85 minutes would result in a glut of over-done cliches and caricature-like stereotypes. I also think that movies that focus upon the traditions and idiosyncracies of various sub-cultures often pigeonhole their respective population into a long list of unfair expectations and prejudices.

Fortunately, Mambo Italiano pulled off the impossible. It poked fun of tradition while allowing the viewer to realize that tradition and culture can be tortuously binding and limiting. Where this little film also succeeded was in its juxtaposition of the old and the new. The young progenitors of culture are usually the ones who break new ground, who shed the excess and limiting traditions for new, more progressive ones. But, at the same time, as traditions become entrenched in our adolescent minds, they often become so set in adulthood that they have fossilized into our subconscious. We do things without realizing that we are doing them. Mambo Italiano presents this fight. Some of the characters move on. They live in harmony with their own culture but not limited by it. Others succumb to the claws of their predecessors, out of weakness, fear and even comfort. These results are inevitable in any true subculture. We persist. We succumb. We endure.

I recommend this film to anyone, especially those of ethnic backgrounds. It's never heavy-handed. It's sometimes too outrageous. You'll smile. You laugh. You'll be frustrated. But, most importantly, you'll be entirely satisfied by this quaint and almost poignant Italian feast.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Let's Mambo!
Review: Imagine just starting to deal with being gay, in an Italian family, with parents that are just this side of looney, and you get the basic premise of the new gay film "Mambo Italiano".

This Canadian import is an enjoyable romp through the life of one Angelo Barberini, an attractive young Italian male who's just starting to deal with coming out of the closet. His life is entralled with two controlling parents whose only desire is for their son to meet "a nice Italian girl" and settle down, one sister who lives for her Valium and visits to every psychologist in Toronto, and his soon-to-be extremely closeted cop boyfriend Nino.

One mistake the movie could have made, but never does, is to take itself too serioiusly. It's a fun romp, fast paced, and full of funny moments. As Angelo comes out to his parents, you seem him blossoming within his own life, as he attempts to take charge of the situation. Luke Kirby does an excellent job in his role as Angelo, allowing the audiences to sympathize and laugh with him at the same time. And Tim Post, as a gay help line volunteer, comes across as charming as Rupert Everett in his role.

Fun, light hearted, and quite an enjoyable film, you won't be disappointed with this Canadian winner of a film, "Mambo Italiano".

For DVD fans, the DVD comes with no extras at all, which I did miss. But hey, you can't have everything!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: this movie's genius!!
Review: It's about an italian couple who travels from Italy to Canada. Their son Angelo then shocks them by moving out of the house and into an apartment, with his childhood buddy Nino. Angelo shocks them even furter when he tells them that he's gay. Although Nino is gay also, he does not want to come out of the closet...

This is a very funny movie, and i can relate cuz i'm italian, and some scenes in here my family would do. Angelo's mom reminds me of my grandmother, and most of the gestures she does in the movie i can see my grandmother doing.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: an interesting topic
Review: It's true that this is a silly "ethnic" comedy about immigrants and their assimilated offspring, to be watched just for fun. But I still found the topic interesting because it relates to my experience as a North American guy in his 20s in a long-term relationship (in Italy itself) with an Italian guy in his 20s and his very traditional family, whom I got to observe thoroughly. A few times I found the spaghetti-commercial-style stereotypes just too overblown, but a couple of moments I thought "YES, that's how it is!" - especially the hysterical reaction of the family, and the part about living at home until marriage, or (if you're gay) NEVER leaving home. Also the family's efforts to fix Nino and Angelo up with girls as a reaction to their coming out is a fairly common in Italy. Some Italian families actually keep their gay sons or daughters secluded in the home so that the disgrace won't "get out", but that's not as common today. But the 180 degree switch from hiding it to showing it off at the end seemed contrived, but it was the only way to make a happy ending out of what would have been a long, emotional ordeal for a real family. I liked that they kept it a light-hearted comedy instead of letting it deteriorate into sugary sentimentalism or self-important drama. If you have no connection to the subject matter though, it's not a particularly special film but it's not too slow-moving and makes decent light entertainment for an evening.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Bella!
Review: Let me start with "I liked this movie." It includes every stereotype of Italians you can think of (well, none of the mob stuff), and much of the content of many a gay movie. It is nothing new, but you laugh a great deal. The odd thing about it is that I laughed through the movie, yet it left me feeling oddly sad. Of course there is a happy ending, but not the one you expect. Maybe more realistic. And, as real life so often is, a bit bittersweet. Watch it with a friend - you may be able to have a very interesting conversation afterwards - and you will already have had a good laugh.


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