This film is about 2 gay mafia having to pretend that they are caterers, and cater for the father's birthday party.It plays on reversal of stereotypes throughout the film. Gay guys playing the mafia, really tough guys playing camp, and mafia doing the cooking. All these are slightly unbelievable, but incredibly fun. The typical Italian mafia doing camp gestures is totally hilarious! However, the last half an hour is a bit too random and ridiculous, it would have been better if the siege scene was changed to something else.Though it is a gay comedy, there is almost nothing gay about it, apart from one scene where the the two gay lovers holding each others' hands. Despite it being very toned down compared to other gay films, it is still enjoyable to watch.

This film deserves a whack job! What could have been an exceptionally funny film, a good suspenseful thriller, or operatic drama piece combining the mob and gay genres goes royally bad with "Friends and Family." The main idea of two openly gay mobsters goes against the grain of known mob history about having openly-free homosexuals operating in the mob. In this supposed comedy, one of the mobsters has visiting parents, while their understanding comrades prepare, with absolute unbelievable camp (which includes -- ho-hum, *yawn!* -- drag queens), to make a special event more illuminating. Thrown into the mix is perhaps the stupidest idea of a para-militia with their un-focused objective of launching an anti-government campaign at a mob-arranged dinner. Huh?!! All the sequences in this film are poorly executed, the writing is more flat-lined than a corpse in the back of a Buick, and most of all, the two leading gay mobster-boyfriends are absolutely unbelievable as a gay couple. They don't even share any affection to one another, or so much as a kiss, unlike Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal's more honorable portrayals in "Brokeback Mountain." "Friends and Family" is just plain awful. Whoever thought this film would be great to write and produce certainly didn't have the great fore-sight of forming what could've been another wise, potentially great mob tale. There is so much gripping and fantastic themes that can derive from the mob and gay genre. But "Friends and Family" opted for the more stereotypical route of camp and cross-dressing men sown into a mobster movie. This film absolutely deserves to be shot, burned, and kept six feet under, never to be viewed and heard of again!

What a cute movie! I must have watched this five times, the first time I rented it, although I had to hide the remote to keep from going back to the close-up shots of the actors. It certainly didn't hurt that they were just gorgeous.The acting overall was what I expected and I didn't have a problem with the pace of the movie. It helps to go into this looking to have fun and not some sort of connection to the plot or characters. This is meant to be fun and lighthearted (its not the Sopranos) and it delivers. There were several chuckle-worthy scenes, although watching them try to cook was more a 'laugh in horror' kind of thing. And I loved the role the two played with the mob family -- they are part of the family. I thought it was adorable the way the Don was almost protective of them, and Jenny... too funny! I was a bit disappointed with the fact that Stephen and Danny had very few affectionate gestures at first but with the second and third viewings... well, those glances were pretty heavy and the lack in the beginning made that final "almost kissed" scene even more powerful. Although my daughter ("That's it?! He's not gonna kiss him?!), didn't think so. Ah well.Oh, if you get a hold of this, be sure to check out all of the features. I liked the deleted scene that shows a tense moment between Stephen and Danny. It's a shame it didn't make the final cut but I can see why -- it's almost harsh compared to how upbeat the rest is.

Like so many gay movies, there is so much potential here, but it never matured during the artistic process. So many things were not quite there. The script with a little more polish, the directing with a little more experience, the acting moving a little faster, and the movie with a little more work would have been totally delightful. Two things bothered me most. 1. The lack of a kiss or any real intimacy between the gay couple. I kept hoping until the end that they would kiss - even a small peck.2. The pace. This movie was slow. Not sure whose fault this was. Did the director over control the actors not allowing them to move it along? Did the editor stretch everything to try meet an appropriate length? Not sure, but even the big action sequence toward the end was a waltz, when it should have been frenetic tarantella.There were a lot of funny ideas here, but the delivery was sooo slow. Pace, pace, pace, screwball comedies are about pace. Keep it moving. It may have been that the production staff (writer, director, etc) where just too impressed with themselves.The acting on the other was pretty good. I think with proper pacing they would have been exceptional. Yes, like so many low budget indie gay movies - I wish for a rewrite and a remake by a competent director. I wouldn't change the cast at all, just the creative/production staff. This could be a delightful charming hilarious movie, but it isn't quite there.By the way, if you listen to the commentary you may begin to understand what went wrong and who is at fault. Oh well, <sigh>.