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2009 Arthur J Nascarella Bill Allison Bill Wortman Chad McKnight Charlie Talbert Chazz Palminteri Chris Hajian Christine Lahti Dean Marrazzo Drama Frank John Hughes Fred David Heather Sullivan Illya Trincher J Todd Harris Jim Click Joey Whitacre John Farrell John Gaughan Kerry Barden Lauri Johnson Linus Roache Matt Othick Michael Lerner Michael Rispoli Phil Ivey Richard DiPatri Robert Celestino Robert H Moretti Roma Maffia Rusty Meyers Saverio Guerra Steven Christopher Parker Tom Guiry Trent Othick Vincent Schettler
First Review: Aside from the premise that gets repeated everywhere about this being a father/challenged son film, I looked at this as more a gambling film. Once you watch the special features, it was apparent that was the primary intention anyway.
One solid performance by Tom Guiry (who I remember most from Black Irish movie) and a slew of normal performances by everyone else lead up this film about cheats and hustlers making a buck. Chazz as the father, takes over the care of his challenged son that he has essentially ignored for years. Through their trials and difficulties, we see them become closer, all whilst cheating everyone they come across. The filmmakers stressed the importance of the viewer liking the leads, but they were all cheats so it didn't work as well with me.
The special features make this three star film a four though.
15 minute making of documentary; extremely dry and slightly informative.
8 minute documentary on the technical consulting by "Fast Jack"; more touching than the movie, as the old guy gets choked up talking about his past - if you skip the rest, even the movie at least give this a watch.
5:30 minute clip on the look of the film, sets, lighting, etc.
7:30 minute clip on the premier footage and more interviews
But the best: a 6:30 minute look into the moves used in the film...wow. They review the slights of hand and tricks used in dealing cards and playing poker. I watched it in slow motion a few times just to try and figure out how in the heck they were pulling some of those things off. Was fun to sift through.
This was the director's first real film, and he did a decent job. The film quality was average to poor at times, the sound was selectable between 5.1 or 2.0, and the music drowns up too heavily in a few scenes, but seeing all of the background props, tricks and gambling makes for an adequate gaming watch.
Category: Drama
All Genres: Drama
Release Year: 2009
Country: USA
Runtime: 101 minutes
Rating: 6.6/10
Languages: English
Director:
Sound: Dolby Digital, SDDS, DTS
Writing by :
Robert Celestino - writer
Produced by:
Kerry Barden - associate producer
Jim Click - co-executive producer
Fred David - co-producer
Richard DiPatri - line producer
John Gaughan - executive producer
J. Todd Harris - co-executive producer
Phil Ivey - executive producer
Robert H. Moretti - co-producer
Matt Othick - executive producer
Trent Othick - producer
Chazz Palminteri - executive producer
Vincent Schettler - co-executive producer
Illya Trincher - co-producer
Joey Whitacre - associate producer
Bill Wortman - co-executive producer
Cast:
Chazz Palminteri - Yonkers Joe
Christine Lahti - Janice
Tom Guiry - Joe Jr.
Michael Lerner - Stanley
Linus Roache - Teddy
Michael Rispoli - Mickey
Roma Maffia - Santini
Frank John Hughes - Tom Vincent
Arthur J. Nascarella - Dino
Saverio Guerra - Bam
Chad McKnight - Simon
Lauri Johnson - Hammer
Dean Marrazzo - Casino Manager
John 'Fastjack' Farrell - Fitz
Bill Allison - Pit Boss
Steven Christopher Parker - Neil
Charlie Talbert - Micheal
Heather Sullivan - Counter Girl
Rusty Meyers - Committee Man
Music By:
Official Website: Visit Website
Plot:
In the opening scene of Robert Celestino's Yonkers Joe, professional gambling cheat Chazz Palminteri is at the track, meeting with Michael Lerner, his trusted confederate and chief suppler of bogus cards and dice. They're in the middle of chewing over Palminteri's lifelong dream to take down one of the big Atlantic City casinos, when Lerner checks his watch and says he has to split. His daughter is in town.
Yonkers Joe is largely concerned with the delicate balance between a crook's business life and his personal life—a balance the movie itself has trouble managing effectively. Half of Yonkers Joe follows Palminteri as he schleps his formidable mechanic skills from backroom card games to back-alley crapshoots, all while calculating how he can use what he has at his disposal to pull off one of the slickest cons of all time. The other half follows Palminteri's grown son Tom Guiry, a foul-mouthed thug with Down Syndrome. Whenever Yonkers Joe sticks with the small-timers and their long-shot dice-switching scheme, it's a jazzy, tense depiction of life on the grift. But whenever it returns to the relationship between Palminteri and the ever-exasperating Guiry, the movie is as maudlin as a Hallmark Channel Original. (The saccharine side of Yonkers Joe reaches its nadir in a father-son heart-to-heart that ends with Guiry shouting, "I have three chromosomes and you have two! No one will ever love me!")
The capering in Yonkers Joe is smart enough to excuse most of the tear-jerking. The movie delves into the seedier side of the gambling business, focusing on the conflict between the tough guys who police the casinos and the sharpies who try to outfox them. And it's an involving (though unsurprising) character study about a man who spends hours perfecting his sleight of hand, yet is far less cautious when it comes to his ambitions. Palminteri won't back sure things; he prefers the odds a little longer. Similarly, Celestino steers clear of the can't-miss pulp thriller that Yonkers Joe could've been, and goes for broke by giving it big dollop of schmaltz. His horse doesn't come in, but it runs a respectable race.
Goofs:
Trivia:
- Break Videos: YONKERS JOE starring Chazz Palminteri
- DailyMotion: Yonkers joe trailer
- Google video: Chazz Palminteri in "Yonkers Joe" at Tribeca Film festival
- Metacafe: YONKERS JOE: Movie Trailer
- My Space Video: Yonkers Joe Exclusive Sneak Peek
- Tudou: Yonkers Joe Search
- Yahoo Video: 'Yonkers Joe' Theatrical Trailer
- Youku: Yonkers Joe Search
- YouTube: Yonkers Joe co-star Christine Lahti
