"Mambo Italiano" should have been called "My Big, Fat, Homosexual Life." Staring Luke Kirby, Peter Miller and Paul Sorvino, this movie tried to duplicate the success of last year's hit, "My Big, Fat Greek Wedding," and inevitably came up short. Although it was cute and funny, there wasn't much of a plot. If the movie was any more than eighty-eight minutes, it would have been too long, but it's a decent movie if you feel like checking something out that doesn't involve much thought.
Maria and Gino, born and raised in Italy, moved to Montreal after getting married but brought their old ways with them. They don't understand what's wrong with having your children live with you until they're married, and that when they do marry, it's to a "nice Italian" man or woman.
Their world is shattered when their son, Angelo, decides that he has had enough of living at home at the age of twenty-seven. Although they still think that their son has shunned them and the traditional way of life, things get better for the family when Angelo's long time friend, Nino, a respectable cop, agrees to move into his apartment with him. Nothing is peaceful for long. After a short while, everyone finds out that they are not merely roommates, but gay lovers.
The best parts of the movie are the contrasts between Angelo's family's way of living, and real life. Much like "My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding," this movie stresses clashing with the norms of a particular society, but it lacks the originality that made "My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding" a huge success. Angelo says that "there's nothing worse than being gay and Italian," and basically the whole movie plays off that.
While parts of the movie are laugh-out-loud funny, it is about as predictable as films get. Audiences will be laughing one minute, and the next be thinking about how low-budget the film looks. The characters were typical of such a movie. The Italian mother bickers with her husband up until the end, and eventually you start to get sick of listening to it. The children are trying to break free or their parents' rules, but don't really know where they're going. The neighborhood talks about everyone behind their backs... nothing new, but somewhat funny none the less. All hell breaks loose when something goes wrong, only to be inevitably fixed at the end of the movie.
