Year: 2003	Rated: PG	Runtime: Insert
Starring: Joe Mantegna, Anne Archer, Pierrino Mascarino, Trevor Morgan, Gina Mantegna, Duke Doyle, Daniel Adebayo, Chelcie Ross, Mindy Bell, Shanesia Davis-Williams, Ned Schmidtke
Directed by: Robert Shallcross
Written by: Robert Shallcross
Music by: Larry Pecorella
Movie Studio: Kick the Can Productions
FULL DETAILS	TRIVIA	GOOFS

COMMENTARY
Rose HUGE	Uncle Nino was superior and if you haven't seen it (just like those who pick the Oscars) then forget it.  You are not worth anything.  When will HOLLYWOOD WAKE UP and see what to show the family and KIDS today.  Just imagine no shooting, no cursing, no sex. WOW!!! Just a lot of LOVE.  This world needs more of that and less of the other.  It was SUPERB.....Wish they can do an encore when the family goes to visit Uncle Nino
:

A Worthwhile Visit

        Let me start out by saying that Uncle Nino is filled with all the film-making and storytelling clichés that intellectual/writer/snobs like myself should be bothered by... and I am.  I am aware that the film uses sentimentality instead of sentiment sometimes, that the story makes all the expected turns for the most part and that the characters do exactly what characters in a family comedy are supposed to.  I am aware of this.

I know this type of movie well.

I hate this type of movie usually.

I thought Uncle Nino was very, very good.  Why?  Because it knew what kind of a movie it was supposed to be, conformed for the most part but, occasionally, and when it counted, sticks it's head above the crowd and surprises you with reality and a true understanding of what it is to be human.  While the movie is about a family that has fallen just about as apart as most families you probably know and needs a "special and unexpected guest" to bring them a little closer together.  You know this plot, something out of the ordinary and pretty damn negative happens that everyone thinks will just make the family worse off, and ends up bringing it closer together.  This is exactly the movie Uncle Nino is, but it is better. It's not your usual shlock like Steve Martin's version of Cheaper by the Dozen which actually made me throw up just a little in my mouth (movie reference, anyone?).  Rather than just trying to get out the message, that, hey, wouldn't it be nice if we all appreciated each other more? Uncle Nino acknowledges that it's really hard to do that sometimes because people aren't always easy to appreciate.

With a revelation that occurs a little more than half way through the movie and seemingly straight out of left field, we begin to understand that this not a movie asking the impossible (love everyone all the time, it's easy!) but actually a film that says it's never too late to give it another try, even if you've screwed up the first few (hundred) times, and if it works out, maybe it was meant to that time.

The acting is for the most part resoundingly adequate.  Joe Mantegna, who I like a lot, acts just as well as he needs to, as does his wife and daughter.  The two actors who stand out in this movie are the young man who plays his son, Trevor Morgan.  It was only while doing some research that I realize I'd seen this boy before in The Sixth Sense as Tommy Tomasino.  He does a great job here.

The movie does, however, truly belong to the title character, played perfectly and affectingly and very subtly, by Pierrino Mascarino.  You sometimes forget he's even the title character because his performance is so natural and quiet.  He does a perfect job as a mountain town Italian (reminding me a bit of a much less sophisticated version of my own grandfather, much more educated and urbane than Uncle Nino but with many of the same mannerisms and kindnesses).  While the movie sometimes devolves into an after-school-special kind of vibe, and some of the jokes don't fit (like the scene when Uncle Nino shows up at Joe Mantegna's work place to give lunch to the stuck up board members), Mascarino's Uncle Nino is so engaging and wonderful in his limited English (a saving point of the film, curtailing some stereotypical advice and English speaking character may feel prompted to give, Uncle Nino is instead an inspiration through action and not preaching).

Will this be the best movie you see this year?  No, but it will make you feel good, and maybe even a little happy.

And dammit do we all need that.