Somewhere in Queens (2022)

Directed by Ray Romano

“Somewhere in Queens” is a touching drama-comedy about existential fear.

Leo Russo (Ray Romano, who also directed and co-wrote the movie) leads a humdrum existence with his cancer-survivor wife Angie (Laurie Metcalf) and withdrawn son Matt “Sticks” (Jacob Ward).  Working for the family construction firm, Leo plays second fiddle not only to his pop (Tony Lo Bianco) but to his brother, nephews and just about everyone else in the business.  Only through his son does Leo earn a kind of respect.

Sticks, nearing the end of high school, is on the brink of stepping onto this gloomy treadmill.  However the kid has an emerging talent for basketball. With his confidence boosted by new girlfriend Dani (Sadie Stanley) as well as by his dad’s unrelenting support, he attracts the notice of a college basketball scout who suggests Sticks could get a sports scholarship to a Philadelphia university.

The rest of the family, including mom Angie, seem opposed to this opportunity; and disaster strikes when Dani dumps Sticks, plunging the boy into something between depression and despair.  But Leo is not about to admit defeat for his son.

Leo is afraid of being insignificant, of living a life that amounts to nothing, disrespected by family and colleagues. With no hope left for his own career, his greatest fear is that his son will sink below the waves that have already swallowed Leo.  This seems to spur him to dedicate much of his energy to supporting Sticks, but there are more than just honest paternal aspirations at play here: hearing his name chanted at the high-school stadium (“Mis-ter Russ-o, Mis-ter Russ-o”) partly fills the gaping hole in Leo’s existence.  Romano is unselfish almost to a fault in the way he writes and plays Leo, portraying him as far from bright, physically oafish, emotionally clumsy and more or less torpedoed by life and his family.

Sticks fears the world, and the prospect of trying to engage with it and failing. When the fear becomes too intense, not trying seems like an effective strategy.  This leads to a rather fragmented character arc for Sticks during much of the movie; sadly, this puts a constraint on the acting chops that Jacob Ward can show us.  Much of the time he’s withdrawn and silent, and this leaves him just too passive to make us care enough about what happens to him.

It’s Laurie Metcalf as Angie in whom fear is most palpable.  Her terror about the possibility of the return of her cancer distorts her character, and she reflects this horrifyingly well through her face which is frequently contorted into a mask of rage. She lashes out at an enemy she can’t touch, and instead hits those who are closest her.

Romano and co-writer Mark Stegemann leaven the story with some nice, natural-feeling moments of comedy and a few recurring gags, though Leo’s repeated recourse to the wisdom of Rocky Balboa quickly become tiresome.

The ending is satisfying if a little too neat though, to its credit, it’s not quite the one you might have seen coming.

More of a problem is the script’s tendency to have characters voice what we have already been more than adequately shown. “I was terrified” says Angie, in case we didn’t get it. “Everyone’s afraid, Sticks” says Dani. We know, we know. It’s as if Romano doesn’t have confidence that the fine performances he elicits from his actors are enough.