Review of Two Family House (2000) by Richard K — 30 Jan 2010

Buddy Visalo is as Italian as they come. He's a big guy, he?s got a crew of Italian buddies, and he's got a screeching, annoying Italian wife. And they all reside in a thoroughly Italian neighborhood, circa 1956. But, as Italian as Buddy is, can he live forever with a woman who continually stomps on his dreams? Maybe not. But, no matter how bad his marriage becomes, there are certain things no true-blooded Italian man would ever do. But Buddy Visalo is not your typical man.

Buddy is the man of the house in the surprising film "Two Family House." His newly purchased house has an upstairs apartment, and Buddy needs to evict the tenants, a lowly and annoying Irish dude, and his young, sexy, and pregnant wife. It is the wife, played by the simultaneously plain and alluring Kelly Macdonald (the wife in No Country for Old Men) who becomes, along with Buddy, the focus of our story.

It is a tale of ethnic tension, magnified further as the story unfolds. But I won?t give any of that away. The surprises forthcoming are a large part of what makes this film special.

There are times when we are about to give up on these characters, realizing that their social faults are just a sign of those times. It provides a stark reminder of how bad racial divisions were in this country just a few decades ago. But, as disheartening as much of this story is, it takes a couple of remarkable and unexpected turns, and rewards us in several beautiful ways.