29TH STREET

"It's A Wonderful Life" my all time favorite Christmas movie. A film with great characters; a wonderful moral ;and an epic story. There are have been countless spin offs and parody's of the film that don't work, however, I found a hidden gem that's near as good as this film called...



Based on a true story, a man named Frank Pesce Jr.(Anthony LaPaglia) has been lucky since the day he was born and every bad thing that happens to him, good luck comes out of it. His father (Danny Aiello)  however, is a big loser and has the Mafia on his ass. One day, Frank buys a lottery ticket and has a good chance at winning. He now must decide what to do with the ticket.

The acting from both LaPaglia and Aiello is one of the main reasons why the films good. They both have a great mixture of being dramatic and funny at the same time. The comedy and acting from LaPaglia is really good, really funny, and you can feel the character's pain. I'm not too crazy about Aiello as an actor (Even though he's been in two of my all time favorite movies and was good in the classic films like "Moonstruck" and "Do The Right Thing") but here he's so funny, he's so dramatic that you just gotta love him as much as our main character. I really enjoy his scenes of how he obsesses over his lawn and when he keeps trying to make his own Italian Pizza that always turns out to be crap. I think the best scene with LaPaglia and Aiello is the scene where the father tells Frank that he's "Not A Loser". It's just really well acted scene and very emotional as well.
 

The films modern take on, on "It's A Wonderful Life" is very clever and gives you the same joy and sadness that the original film has brought and the fact that it's based on a real person's story gives it an extra bonus. The parody's and scenes that homage the film are endless. It starts out with our main character praying, while we see an overview of New York City; some of the cinematography looks similar to the original film; we get to see the guys full life in a flashback that leads up to present Christmas Eve; the whole situation of the guys problem is something financially; and it has the same wonderful ending that brings in that Christmas feel. The two main characters are also similar to George Bailey, only instead of Frank being the one in trouble, it's his Father and Frank is only trying to help him which I think is a good twist on the original story. As far as the rest of the film goes, it's really funny, has a great soundtrack and as a special extra parody to the film, it parodies a little bit of "Goodfellas".

So I guess you think this is the end of my review right...guess again! I may have gave the film lots of praise, but there's only one huge problem I have with it, it's very forgettable. Sure, I still remember the two main stars, the parody on "It's A Wonderful Life", and some hilarious scenes, but as I let the days go on, the memory I have of this film begins to fade and fade, all I remember for the most part is that I enjoyed it while I was watching it. Almost everything in this film is forgettable.

Aside from it being forgettable, it's still a movie I recommend you see. Even though it doesn't hold up like most Movies I reviewed, you'll still at least get some enjoyment from watching it.

RATING 3/5