A reformed mafioso has to try to keep his wayward nephew, pre-Friends Matt LeBlanc, out of trouble in Guy Magar’s 1994 drama Lookin’ Italian.
The Film
It’s always interesting to see the Before They Were Famous work. In the Friends edition, we have Jennifer Aniston in Leprechaun, Lisa Kudrow in The Unborn, and Courtney Cox in Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing in the Dark video (directed by Brian DePalma!), for example. For Matt LeBlanc, just six months before Friends, he starred in the drama Lookin’ Italian, written and directed by Guy Magar; rescued from obscurity (it was never released in the States) by Severin Films in a new Blu-ray.
Matt LeBlanc plays a lazy, shiftless family member of some mob folks, sent to live with his uncle Vinnie, perennial TV guest star Jay Acovone, who has left the trouble of NYC after an accident. The goal is to keep him chill and away, but his penchant is to get in trouble. His womanizing across LA eventually makes an enemy, and violence erupts, and family histories come through. It’s a solid little crime drama (with some comedy), although it’s a little unfocused in terms of where it wants to go.
LeBlanc is rather good, very charismatic. LeBlanc has that quality that feels something big is around the corner (too bad he was pretty much typecast in Joey-like roles after that, including ape-movie Ed early in the run, but at least got piles of cash to weep into). Except when hitting strong emotion, the big moments don’t work for anyone, and the big emotional lines are a little off and hilariously on the nose, which undercuts the drama, becoming overdone melodrama. But he’s trying really hard; crying is a very difficult thing to pull off. And he’s fantastic in the rest of it. Acovone is more of the lead, and he does great work as the retired gangster, troubled by his past. Kudos to musician Lou Rawls for a notable performance as well. Denise Richards even gets an early credit (a lot of TV, and National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon 1 preceded; Tammy and the T. rex was next).
Lookin’ Italian feels like a personal project after a series of horror films in Retribution and Stepfather III, for all the highs and lows that come from it. Each scene is well developed, written, and acted, mostly with some exceptions as noted above. There’s strong chemistry between LeBlanc and Acovone. The scenes are dramatic when they need to be, funny when going that way, well-done action for a few sequences, and have a strong pace within. But that’s also the issue. There’s a tonal inconsistency in where the film his heading. Heck, I wasn’t sure where it was going overall until a sudden turn. Magar is making a self-described homage to Scorsese, a noticeable connection, but it’s not really a Mafia flick; they’re there, but this isn’t a riff on Goodfellas. I liked that.
But Magar did all this for less than a million bucks. That’s something. Magar gives it a great look, full of noir touches of darkness and shadow. The sort of look that looks good sometimes and others makes me say “dammit, just turn on a light.” luckily Lookin’ Italian follows the right path, giving a strong feeling. Magar gets most of the money
Lookin’ Italian is a solid but flawed little flick with an early go from LeBlanc.
The Package
Severin presents Lookin’ Italian on a single Blu-Ray, with the title, a gun, and a few bullet holes on the disc. The single-sided sleeve features a poster on one side and normal info on the back. The disc is region-free.
The Presentation
Like American Yakuza, Lookin’ Italian has that semi-noir dark 90s look. And it translates well with a great transfer with deep darks and bright when it needs to be. I saw minor grain. A damned good look. Audio is English with English subtitles.
The Features
Severin puts together a solid state of extras. One is newly produced to this release, the remainder are technically archival from 1993 (on set) and 1994 (Film Festival), but new to any viewer.
Directin’ Italian Director interview (New)
Guy Magar looks at his career, the film itself, and the time since. A nice little chat. (13m)
Archival Interviews
Guy Magar (13m), Jay Acevodo (10m), Matt LeBlanc (11m), Stephanie Richards (8m)
Lou Rawls (7m) John LaMotta (10m) (BTW, he’s Raging Bull Jake LaMotta’s cousin!)
Quick and fun on-set interviews. Seemed like they were asked the same questions – how Lookin’ Italian are they, their careers, the approach to their characters, and what they like about the film. Not quite EPK, a little more casual. Rather enjoyable.
Palm Springs Q&A and more (1994)
A post-film Q&A with folks giving it a lot of love (especially some older guy who claimed to be the best movie of all time). As someone who attends many festivals (SIFF 4 Life!) I get it, it’s a fun event. Followed by the folks hanging out and joking around. Interesting fly on the wall. (20m)
Inside Edition (1994)
A strange little slice of the 90s. Airing after Friends exploded, it says so often, “no distributor will buy this film, so no one has seen it,” that it becomes weirdly mean. (4m)
Behind-the-scenes
Nothin’ going really. Just watching some of the scenes being filmed. (4m)
Gag reel
Some funny stuff, but they definitely found it funnier than I did. (13m)
Final Thoughts
Lookin’ Italian is a fine little film, not without its issues, but impressive enough with an earlier role for a now famous guy- some cocktail trivia for you -and making something notable from a tiny budget. A good collection of extras gives some thought to the process.