There are a limited number of fundamental stories storytellers can utilize. Films that tell one of these stock stories in an original or exceptionally flawless manner are recognized as \good""-the rest are, at best, considered boring exercises in clich??. At worst, they might be called ""unmitigated trash."" ""Uncle Nino,"" written and directed by Bob Shallcross (""Little Giants"") frequently flirts with diving headfirst into the trash heap, but manages to remain mere, harmless clich?? through unadulterated earnestness.
The particular story being told in ""Nino"" is familiar to family comedies of the last two decades. The Micelli family is a lovely suburbanite group that is rotting from the inside due to stereotypical suburbanite problems. Robert (Joe Mantegna) works too much, Marie (Anne Archer) works too much, the son (Trevor Morgan) plays in a rock band and the daughter (Gina Mantegna) is getting rebellious, too. And she wants a dog. The familial closeness has been sucked out of the Micellis because of their modern, frantic lifestyle. Their uncle Nino (Pierrino Mascarino), a wise old man from Italy, is going to visit his brother's grave for the first time.
Naturally, when he sees the state of his nephew's family, he cannot help but intervene. Wine from a box, take-out dinners, a daughter who is denied a puppy-these are problems that must be fixed. The rest is very predictable. The dad finally withdraws his resistance and Nino's traditional family values triumph. There's a ""Battle of the Bands"" involving Bobby's rock band and Nino's violin. Bonds are reestablished. The family is strong once again.
Oddly enough, ""Nino"" is an independently produced film that found zero initial success with distributors. It got one theater to project the film-in Grand Rapids, Mich., of all places. After showing for 55 weeks (and doing quite well in Grand Rapids), the film finally is getting a wide release. Some films can succeed through good word of mouth, and there's certainly a niche audience of middle-aged suburbanite parents that might enjoy ""Nino."" However, these types of films are generally produced by huge family-friendly studios like Disney (and usually feature direct-to-video or television releases). It's amazing that Shallcross managed to get it made at all.
Compared to the weak script, the acting is fairly solid. Mantegna is always interesting to watch on screen, if not always particularly good. He does well with his one-dimensional father role. The same can be said of Archer as the lonely family matriarch. Each of them invest in the paper-thin roles. It's this type of na??ve earnestness that carries most of this film-the same can be said of performances from Morgan and Mascarino. The weakest link is Mantegna's real-life and on-screen daughter, Gina. There is some semblance of a connection between them, but she's clearly uneasy with performing for a camera. This discomfort results in an uneven performance.
The film's entire message can be easily boiled down, as though it were cut from the same cloth as any number of other hollow, sentimental family films that might air on ABC Family. There's nothing wrong with the message that families need to make the effort to spend time with one another. That's an extremely noble and heartwarming message for a film to have.
The problem ""Nino"" faces is that there's very little substance besides that moral. The film lacks nuance or depth. It happily plays according to the formulaic rules without really fleshing out the people or problems involved, and no amount of Joe Mantegna, bottled wine or elderly Italians rocking on the violin can make up for that weakness.
