Two Family House

TFH

source: Two Family House

Trailer—Two Family House

Two Family House

Certainly one of the best movies of 2000, if not THE best, in an otherwise horrendous year for movies. Extremely visual storytelling combined with an affecting romance and warm humor, beautifully acted by all involved. Too often in romances -- or any movie for that matter -- one doesn't get a sense of anything real or important at stake. Not so in TWO FAMILY HOUSE. It's precisely because the two main characters have so much at stake, and are willing to take enormous risks, that they are attracted to one another and we desperately want them to be together. An excellent little movie -- the kind of picture which Hollywood should be turning out regularly but which is all too rare.

"Two Family House" tells the story of a 1950's Staten Island man (Rispoli) who finds that the road from dreams to reality is paved with difficulty but leads to happiness. A cute little romantic comedy with a big heart, "TFH" makes some big points about the importance of being true to one's own conscience above all else as it spins its simple tale. Well received by critics, "TFH" is an enjoyable watch with a message for everyone mature enough for a mild R rating.

Hey, I'm from Brooklyn, circa 1956, and loved dat filum...the only things that got me was Buddy's diction, which was at times too polished...he said "her" instead of "huh" for instance, over and again, and the heavy-handed portrayal of racism of the heavily-stereotyped Italian and Irish immigrants...even uneducated men didn't spout racist remarks so publicly either inside the bar or on the street...they may have felt it, but those kinds of public displays are more of the 1980's than 1956...aside from minor incongruities, I enjoyed the film, impressed by the powerful portrayal of lives & feelings of the NYC working class...nice work, all...I cried for half the movie, wanting Buddy and Mary to fall for each other...

TWO FAMILY HOUSE is one of the year's best films. It is the story of a perpetual loser named Buddy (Michael Rispoli) who has a dream to open his own bar where he can sing. His wife, played by Katherine Narducci, thwarts him at every turn. She yells at him and just wants her life to stay the way it always was. Buddy wants more. He buys a house, and he has to throw the upstairs tenant out- a beautiful Irish girl (Kelly McDonald from TRAINSPOTTING), who has just had a baby. To complicate things, the baby is half black. He helps her out, and soon they realize they have feelings for each other- but what to do about them? TWO FAMILY HOUSE is a lovely movie- full of effection for its characters. It's realistic and believable. The performances are great- not just by the three leads but all the supporting characters including Vincent Pastore, "Big Pussy" from "The Sopranos", as another local bartender. This is a wonderful, big-hearted film.

People who talk about love and not act on it or show what it can do in this world of war and ignorance should watch this movie and learn from it. It takes a lot of inner strength to change the world for good and love is the fuel power that drives us to that change. I wish all of us can find that great power to love one another and change the path of hate to the path of love. Great movie and BIG thanks to all who made this movie possible. I wish we can have more great love stories happening in this world. Buddy is the main character who makes everything come together and I want to say that he was great man and people like that are bigger then life. Watch THE MOVIE.

I enjoyed this sensitive indy film about suburban NYC class, culture and race conflict much more than I thought I would, as its underlying goodness of heart won me over by the end. It freshly and uniquely tells the well-used old story that dreams can come true if you believe in them and yourself enough, work long and hard enough, and let the ignorant things go that are holding you back from success. It showed that most people turn out pretty much the same if raised the same but can change for the better if they want to bad enough and are pained enough by their old life, and can end up caring about loyalty, love, and family just about the same as everyone else can with the best of intentions, even if they didn't know it at first. Not just a terrific film, but a good morality story for us all.