Rating: 
Summary: Keep this movie where it belongs- In the Closet!
Review: I purchased this DVD as it has been selling well and the premise seemed cute enough to work well with the right actors and director. My opinion?... throw out these actors, writers, and director and start over! The movie plays into stereotypes in a cheap and demeaning manner for all groups targeted in the movie: the mafia, Italians, gays, and the religious/militia-right. Example: teaching mafia members who are to pose as "gay" waiters means to act effeminate. This movie would have been better using this cast and director had the script been revised without the gay angle.The only way I "knew" Stephen and Danny were gay partners is because the trailer says so. Nothing in any of the scenes between these two suggested this is a partnership... no kissing, no touching (except for a 2-second hand-holding), not even a glance of affection- yawn! The two main characters come off as "straight buddies/roommates," not two men who are supposed to have genuine feelings for each other. Christopher Gartin and Greg Lauren appeared "bored" playing these two. In so many scenes they both appear to have "far away distant stares." As a viewer, I asked myself many times, "Hello? Is anyone home?" (heh heh) The result is that Stephen and Danny come of as one-dimensional characters. The actors' portrayals look more like "robots" than "people" with their quality of acting in this film. Over all result? I became bored early watching this film, hoping it would get better, but it just kept sinking to lower depths. This is not a crisp, intelligent parody, but a cheap, "flop-on-your-face," sophomoric effort. Anyone who believes this movie will foster an awareness or tolerance between the straight and gay communiities knows little of both groups. This movie is one of those "sanitized" efforts that goes to great attempts to dilute any actual reflection of gay men with feelings for each other and give them bland, shallow personalities so as not to offend all the "grannies in Nebraska in their tennis shoes." (heh heh) My recommendation for superior quality films in this genre? "Gone, But Not Forgotten," "All Over the Guy," "Defying Gravity," or "I Think I Do" will better enlighten, entertain, and satisfy with more complex, sympathetic characters and quality plots than "Friends and Family" will. I consider myself being generous with the one-star rating.
Rating: 
Summary: An ok movie
Review: I really did like this movie. But like most of reviewers I was upset that the guy couple not once showed any affection towards one another. Other than that it was a fun movie!
Rating: 
Summary: Hilarious movie
Review: I saw this in the movie theater and am really looking forward to having it on video to watch over and over again. The press release on the film said the writer was named one of Variety Magazine's Ten Screenwriters to Watch based on this movie, and I can see why: colorful characters, intricate but easy-to-follow plot, and loads of laughs. A really fine screen debut for the director as well. The plot involves a pair of enforcers for the mob who just happen to be a gay couple, but I feel that this movie has appeal that extends well beyond the gay audience. Anyone who enjoyed either La Cage Aux Folles or The Birdcage is sure to have a wonderful time with Friends and Family. I recommend it highly.
Rating:
Summary: A perfect little film, flawlessly done
Review: I think these filmmakers gave themselves a hard task by making a mafia film while aiming for a minimum of violence. The result was a little absurd, and while I'm not a fan of violence, it weakened the believability that the two gay main characters are a don's crackerjack team of hit men. In an early scene, the "bad guys" fire shots, but somehow they are defeated with fists. And then again, a militia armed to the teeth with firepower is foiled without any gunplay. What?? Why?? If the movie was a fair amount more silly and campy, that might have worked but most of the main characters and their scenes are not comic. The movie explores the concept of internalized homophobia where the gay couple seek out the most masculine jobs (therefore, they're hit men) they can find. They also find themselves offended at effeminate gay stereotypes. An interesting concept, but it actually felt a little offensive anyway. The idea that heterosexual mafiosi decided they had to act ridiculously flaming to pass as cater waiters was kind of misguided. Moreover, the directors had to find a way to make the mafia hit men the good guys, and that was just a big mess. There are some funny moments, but I would sooner recommend movies such as Big Eden and Sordid Lives.
Rating:
Summary: Really rather average
Review: I think these filmmakers gave themselves a hard task by making a mafia film while aiming for a minimum of violence. The result was a little absurd, and while I'm not a fan of violence, it weakened the believability that the two gay main characters are a don's crackerjack team of hit men. In an early scene, the "bad guys" fire shots, but somehow they are defeated with fists. And then again, a militia armed to the teeth with firepower is foiled without any gunplay. What?? Why?? If the movie was a fair amount more silly and campy, that might have worked but most of the main characters and their scenes are not comic. The movie explores the concept of internalized homophobia where the gay couple seek out the most masculine jobs (therefore, they're hit men) they can find. They also find themselves offended at effeminate gay stereotypes. An interesting concept, but it actually felt a little offensive anyway. The idea that heterosexual mafiosi decided they had to act ridiculously flaming to pass as cater waiters was kind of misguided. Moreover, the directors had to find a way to make the mafia hit men the good guys, and that was just a big mess. There are some funny moments, but I would sooner recommend movies such as Big Eden and Sordid Lives.
Rating:
Summary: Pitch Perfect Comedy
Review: If you're looking for a lively and whip-smart comedy that doesn't indulge in the beefcake-adoring, softcore porn tendencies of so many indie gay flicks, then Friends & Family is the movie for you. It's basically like an old-fashioned buddy movie carried to its logical extreme. Instead of there being homoerotic undertones, the two men are out and out lovers, who undergo a deliciously inventive adventure with loads of laughs and lots of heart as well. The cast, instead of the usual ubiquitous indie types, is filled with seasoned professionals who give a lot of old-fashioned showbiz pizzazz to the proceedings. Highly recommended for a good time.
Rating:
Summary: RUBBISH !!!!!!!
Review: Im not the kind who likes to write reviews, but after watching this movie....the only thing i can say is: Fire the writer, director,actors and give the idea to someboby else and maybe you got a better movie.It needs a lot of work. This is an old fashion (if ever existed such a thing) portrait of gay characters.I hate the expression "gay movies", but i think there are better material for a gay subject movie worth to spend the money than this one.It has to be taken serious, even if its called a comedy. Well, anything but that.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best 'stupidest' films you'll see
Review: Once you catch on to the ludicrous, over the top nature of 'Friends and Family,' it's a very fun ride. This is a completely absurd film...in the best sense of the word. It features a slew of the finest NYC stage actors, all of whom must have had problems keeping a straight face while filming this farce.
The main premise: Danny and Stephen, a gay couple, are facing the crisis of an unplanned parental visit. Because they're in the closet? Well...sort of. But not about their sexuality...about the fact they're mafia hitmen. And from there, the movie takes an unexpected left turn off the beaten track and heaps absurdity on top of absurdity, reaching its apogee in an absurd set piece about a bunch of Soprano-like henchman deciding that if they're going to be waiters for an evening, they have to be gay waiters. So, they take lessons.
Don't ask. Hard to explain how the movie got there. My hat's off to writer Joseph Triebwasser for even envisioning that scene.
Rating:
Summary: An okay comedy about two gay hitmen
Review: Stephen and Danny are the perfect gay couple in New York: both handsome, living in a great house, with well-paying jobs. Their world is turned upside down, though, when Stephen's parents decide to pay a surprise visit on the couple. You see, the problem is that Stephen's been lying to his parents. They know that he and Danny are lovers, but not that they work as hit-men for the mafia. Stephen's parents think they're caterers. The story lines are okay, with some working very well, like the party that Stepehn and Danny have to cater to hide their real jobs from Stepehn's parents. Other lines seem underdeveloped, such as one character's parents being part of a militia. The pacing is slow, and the humor is hit and miss. When something is funny, it's very funny. When it's not, you want to fastforward to the next scene. Greg Lauren (Stephen) and Christopher Gartin (Danny) do a great job as the gay couple. Beth Fowler is also good as Stephen's mother Ada. And, even though he plays the stereotypical gay man, Edward Hibbert is wonderful as Richard Grayson who is brought in to teach Stephen and Danny's mafia cronies to play gay for a dinner party. This was a fun movie to watch, and I recommend it for anyone who wants a light comedy.
Rating:
Summary: Original Comic Twist on Old Theme
Review: The cliche? A surprise visit from Mom and Dad sends a gay couple into a tizzy. The twist? Mom and Dad KNOW Stephen & Danny are happy and gay and have no problem with it--what they DON'T know is that they work for the mafia--the Patrizzi family, as enforcers and bodyguards. In this surprise parental visit, the ruse is not acting heterosexual for Mom & Dad but acting like, well, caterers. Throw in an unexpected visit from the militia, a fierce drag queen or two and mob enforcers acting like gay cater-waiters and hilarity ensues. This visit scenario is but one way in which this film shows and old dog some very funny new tricks. Make no mistake--this is a farcical, screwball comedy with broad humor and somewhat unbelievable situations, but it goes for the laughs and usually gets them. The writing is crisp and intelligent, the sub-plots funny and well-defined and the acting uniformly excellent, with Tony LoBianco's "Don Patrizzi" an understated stand-out. The underlying twists--fathers disappointed in sons, secrets kept from family members, "mixed marriages" and such are played for laughs, and almost always differently than we have seen these themes played out in other films. The film does not take itself too seriously, yet it has a sweet message of love and romance and truth to ones own ideals that runs throughout and helps us get more out of the film than just laughs. Friends & Family had a regional premiere at Austin's 14th annual Gay & Lesbian International Film Festival in September, 2001, where it played to packed houses on two nights, but this film deserves mainstream release. It is unrated, but might garner a PG-13--it has little coarse language, sexually suggestive scenes or violence (save the cartoonish sort), and is a film I would readily take my 13 year old niece and nephew to as well as Mom and Dad. Tovah Feldshuh, Anna Maria Alberghetti and Mesach Taylor co-star. The gay characters are likable, fairly realistic, and actually the heroes of the story; the film might well serve to introduce an awareness and tolerance that is often lacking in film (and in life).
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