BEFORE: Another film centered on an Italian family, but this time in Brooklyn, not Boston. Linking from "Once Around", Danny Aiello was also in "Pret-a-Porter" with Stephen Rea (last seen in "The Musketeer").
THE PLOT: Angie lives in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, N.Y. and dreams of a better life than everyone she knows. When she finds that she is pregnant by her boyfriend Vinnie, she decides that she will have the baby, but not Vinnie as a husband. This turns the entire neighborhood upside down and starts her on a journey of self-discovery.
AFTER: Really, there are cat people and then there are dog people. I assume there are also baby people and non-baby people. I'm one of the latter, but lately I've been around babies much more than ever before, since my boss at one job had a baby, and my co-worker at the other job is expecting one.
But here's the problem, how do you know for sure if you've got a knack for parenting, until it happens? What if you turn out to not be good with babies, and you've already got one? This is sort of the situation that tonight's main character finds herself in. Because of her experiences, with an absent mother and a father who re-married, she's got abandonment issues and a defiant attitude.
The implication is that her life experiences color her decision-making, which is questionable at best. Instead of marrying her boyfriend, she goes in the opposite direction and seeks out a new relationship. She uses this casual relationship as an escape from all of the pressure and responsibility that's headed her way, and yet is surprised when the casual lover turns out to have no interest in being responsible when the time comes.
This leads to more decisions that aren't well thought through, perhaps post-partum depression is a factor, but her first reactions to her baby are not what you might expect. Instead of taking on maternal duties, her impulse is to run away to try and figure things out. I suppose it does happen, but let's not reward such behavior by calling it a "journey of self-discovery".
At least three members of this film's cast later appeared on "The Sopranos", but there were so many character actors on that show over the years that I'm prepared to write that off as a coincidence, or perhaps the use of the same casting director.
Also starring Geena Davis (last heard in "Stuart Little 3: Call of the Wild"), James Gandolfini (last seen in "All the King's Men"), Aida Turturro (last seen in "Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles"), Philip Bosco (last seen in "3 Men and a Baby"), Jenny O'Hara, Michael Rispoli.
RATING: 4 out of 10 saltine crackers
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