Look, everybody loves Ray Romano. Whether from his long-running sitcom or from a few strong late-career turns in The Big Sick and The Irishman, this classic New York everyman has proven more brazen than expected in how he’s evolved his career over the decades. There’s an easiness to him that fits so snuggly in certain roles, and yet his appearance in something new feels almost ambitious because of his prominence as a sitcom star. That’s the energy Romano carries over in his directorial debut, intimate family comedy Somewhere in Queens.
The comedian stars as Leo Russo, a happily married father of the local high school basketball star who spends his days working the family business under his father and brother. It’s a simple life, one he doesn’t strive to escape from. But he does put that pressure on his son, nicknamed Sticks (Jacob Ward). Leo goes to every one of Sticks’ games, to the point where the students have given him his own pre-game chant. On the last game of the season, he brings his wife Angela (Laurie Metcalf), and soon, both of them are confronted with Sticks’ very real college prospects, and how that might shake up the family’s typical path from high school right into the family construction business.
Two things Romano and co-writer Mark Stegemann nail right off the bat is sense of place and the Russo’s family dynamic. These people are unquestionably an Italian family from the New York Metropolitan area, but only some of the more minor family members fall into caricature. Leo, Angela, and Sticks are expertly drawn and fleshed out, to the point where the film slightly overcomplicates itself.
Somewhere in Queens is chock full of subplots, and even with its economic 100-minute runtime, one or two of them feel extraneous. Most affecting is Angela’s remission anxiety. She’s a cancer survivor, and that has changed her view of life and her son in more complicated ways than this average family can always empathize with. The least of them is Leo’s crush on a client (a charming Jennifer Esposito), which just never earns the tension it’s trying to conjure.
Still, even as we move through just a little too much plot, the script and the performances carry us through this breezy family dramedy. Romano gives himself a lot to work with and is believable every step of the way. Ward, as the anxious, lovestruck teen with a hilariously thick Queens accent tearing through his generally more meek demeanor, wonderfully realizes every facet of the rich, multifaceted Sticks. And then there’s Metcalf, truly one of the great performers of our time, who makes a full meal out of every scene she’s in. Angela is the real heart of the film, and Romano knows precisely how to highlight her infectious energy.
By putting people who feel genuinely real front and center, Somewhere in Queens doesn’t always feel like the minor effort it could have been. You’ve seen films like this before, no doubt, but with a script that feels personal and Romano’s direction hitting all the right notes, this quaint little indie sneaks up on you by the end. The Russo’s lives may appear simple, but they are anything but. And that’s what makes them real.
