We have all seen this movie many times before: The quirky stranger comes into the life of a harried person or dysfunctional family and causes havoc and in the process helps them learn the true value of what is right in front of them if they'd only stop to notice.
Hollywood has made this same story probably hundreds of times and we've all seen it in one incarnation or another more often than we can count. Sometimes the predictably of this age old story is just so much like ticking items off a checklist that you can't turn it off fast enough.
And sometimes the predictable, feel-good story is, instead, done well and with just enough original bits that it feels like that old, stretched out, faded, fuzzy sweater you just can't part with because it is just so darned comfortable and comforting.
We all know the formula of these films. We all know how it will end. But because Uncle Nino does it with such easy charm and gentle humor and none of the cheap, emotional manipulativeness most employ -- we just don't care!
It is nice to see Joe Mantegna do something other than the typical macho roles we are so familiar with and Gina Mantegna is so natural she inadvertently puts a spotlight on how most child actors have more 'the right look' than any real acting chops.
Hollywood has made this same story probably hundreds of times and we've all seen it in one incarnation or another more often than we can count. Sometimes the predictably of this age old story is just so much like ticking items off a checklist that you can't turn it off fast enough.
And sometimes the predictable, feel-good story is, instead, done well and with just enough original bits that it feels like that old, stretched out, faded, fuzzy sweater you just can't part with because it is just so darned comfortable and comforting.
We all know the formula of these films. We all know how it will end. But because Uncle Nino does it with such easy charm and gentle humor and none of the cheap, emotional manipulativeness most employ -- we just don't care!
It is nice to see Joe Mantegna do something other than the typical macho roles we are so familiar with and Gina Mantegna is so natural she inadvertently puts a spotlight on how most child actors have more 'the right look' than any real acting chops.