2024 Entry #017 01-13-14 “Friends and Family” is a 2001 gay-themed comedy film written by Joseph Triebwasser and directed by Kristen Coury. The film follows Stephen Torcelli (Greg Lauren) & his partner, Danny Russo (Christopher Gartin), as they struggle to keep Stephen’s parents from discovering that they’re enforcers for the Patrizzi crime family.
The film plays on stereotypes, but being a silly comedy, there are a lot of stereotypes here – and most of it isn’t all that funny; I can see why the writer and director (apparently) never worked on another film ever again. You have the butch gay couple (who never kiss or show much affection for one another). You have the supportive mafia characters, who pretend to be gay in support of the couple. You have the Don’s straight sons, one of which wants to be a fashion designer and the other a cook. And you have another character’s parents who are members of an anti-government militia. There’s also an annoying and rather abrupt ending. Most of this didn’t land for me, but it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it was going to be after the first half of the film left me wishing I could just shut it off. It’s not great, or even particularly good, but it could have been far worse, which is all the praise that I’ll give it.