A Limited Budgetary Allowance And Uninspired Direction Is Fortunately Matched By Hard-Working Players And Crew.
Added 4/14/2006
This Canadian made film, CAFE ROMEO, shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, essentially has no actual beginning, ending or even middle, due to an episodic structure that would allow for a wide interchangeability of scenes, but despite this lack of cohesion and oversight, the work is consistently entertaining due to zealous performances by some members of the cast along with surprisingly high production values. Producer Frank Procopio, who also contributes the original screenplay, has selected for background some elements that have parallels with his own life - he is a dentist and of Italian descent, and the principal character here, Bennie (Jonathan Crombie) is shown attending the University of British Columbia School of Dentistry, additionally having close ties with his extended Italian-Canadian family group. Bennie's plans to become a dentist languish when his favourite uncle Nino (Joseph Campanella) dies, leaving to the young man his home in addition to a business, Cafe Romeo, but Ben is labouring as well with other concerns, because he is in love with Lia (Catherine Mary Stewart), wife to his first cousin Piero (Michael Tiernan), and must also deal with his closest friend Marco (John Cassini), a penny stock player who has gulled Bennie into being part of a risky financial "investment". To complicate the plot even more Lia, finding little of abiding merit within her marriage to a tyro Mafia thug who is undermining her self-confidence, and who urges her to make a life by working at the restaurant and bearing babies, longs for a brighter existence as a fashion designer, for which vocation she has an employment offer in New York City that would plainly jeopardize a potential romance with Bennie, for whom she harbours passionate although unfulfilled affection. Philosophical differences between Procopio and the film's director blunt the work's effectiveness, and it becomes in the main a loosely linked series of independent sketches yet, although any type of primary storyline is submerged beneath a glut of subplots, many of the actors ably contribute traditional skills, and in spite of some very poorly constructed moments, it is a tribute to the energy of many involved here that a generally amiable atmosphere is maintained. A nicely descriptive score is from Amin Bhatia, and cinematographer Philip Linzey is efficient with a variety of moods and action, and those scenes deploying extras are neatly organized, a viewer eventually willing to overlook the film's unfocussed structure, thanks to effective turns from most of a cast that enlivens this piece that often is cumbered with banal dialogue and action.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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This Movie Is A Gem Set In A Cafe!!!
Added 5/31/2005
In this movie we see Jonathon Crombie as a student enrolled in Dentistry School. However things start to change for him as his favourite Uncles passes away and he then inhertits a house and a cafe.Working in the cafe is the beautiful but unhappily married Lia who has aspirations of becoming a Fashion Designer. Lia and Jonathon slowly begin to develop feelings for each other and therein lies the charm of this very enjoyable Romantic Comedy.This movie takes me back to a simpler time when dialogue was all important in movies, nothing got blown up or wrecked and no gratuitous vilolence was to be seen. 5 stars for this gem of a movie.
4 out of 4 people found this helpful.
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So slow...
Added 12/22/2000
"Cafe Romeo" starts out slow and ends at a dead crawl. The plot is hard to decipher, but yes it does star Gilbert from Wonderwork's "Anne of Green Gables." The actors are capable, the dialogue well-written, but the story progresses at the rate of molasses.
3 out of 9 people found this helpful.
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