Touchstone and Beyond: Angie
The Establishing Shot
Angie always dreams of something more to her life. Though she seems happy with her boyfriend, Vinnie, she knows that there is a life outside of Bensonhurst. When she becomes pregnant with Vinnie’s child, Angie is happy at first, but realizes that she can’t have this child and be married to Vinnie.
They break up, which leads Angie to have an affair with Noel, whom she met at the museum, and her family and neighborhood can’t understand why she would do what she has done. Feeling the angst of losing her mother and dealing with her stepmother, who loves her like her own, Angie tries to find some harmony in her life.
The problem is that when Angie faces real difficulty, she and her family need to come to terms with what happens so they can all be part of her son Sean’s life.
The Spotlight
Geena Davis is always perfect on screen, no matter the part. It is her talent and poise in the center frame that allows Angie to be tolerable when every other character is a stereotype of Italian life. Davis makes us care for Angie, and even when the character makes some incredibly dumb decisions, it’s Davis who allows the audience to empathize with her choices.
Stephen Rea is hilarious. His Noel is a side fling for the main character, and with Rea’s wit and sparkle on the screen, it is easy to see why Angie would fall for him. He forces her to move beyond the barrier of her neighborhood, which is what Angie has been trying to tell everyone, including Vinnie, for a long time.
The Shadows
Davis is great, but the character of Angie is unlikable. It’s because of Geena Davis that a viewer would sit through the picture, as the actions and decisions that Angie makes are ridiculous and petty. It’s hard to like Angie. Had anyone else played this part, I would have shut the movie off five minutes in.
James Gandolfini was wasted in the movie. Vinnie is one-dimensional and forgettable.
Philip Bosco is great, but Paul Sorvino would have been magnificent as Frank. There would have been weight and power behind Frank, and probably a little more connection to the material that would have made Frank and Angie’s father-daughter dynamic more compelling than what it is.
Production Stills
- The film is based on the book Angie, I Says by Avra Wing.
- The screenplay was apparently written with Madonna in mind to play the part of Angie.
- The movie was originally going to be produced by 20th Century Fox, but landed at Disney when the screenplay was placed in turnaround.
- Madonna was committed to another project and wanted Angie delayed to wait for her, but producers wanted to shoot in the winter and premiere the film in the following winter, and they refused to wait for Madonna’s schedule to clear.
- The film was nominated for Best Casting by the Casting Society of America in 1994.
- Apparently, Geena Davis researched her part by working at a flea market in Bensonhurst.
- Aida Turturro and James Gandolfini would later play siblings in The Sopranos.
- Jonathan Kaplan was originally set to direct, but left when Madonna did.
- The film’s opening weekend box office gross was just under $3 million.
Person of Interest
Margaret Cho plays the admissions nurse. Anyone who grew up in the 1990s will notice her immediately.
Bill’s Rating
It’s hard to complain about a film that spends the whole time focusing on a woman who tries to break the precast mold of her future by being independent, yet the film falls flat as far as being moving or interesting. I want to like the movie, but there is too much left out in character development for the cast, which keeps Angie stuck in the limbo of wanting to be great when it is mediocre.
If you have nothing to do and you stumble upon Angie, then take a moment to judge for yourself, but don’t cancel plans for it.
Cast
- Geena Davis as Angie
- James Gandolfini as Vinnie
- Stephen Rea as Noel
- Aida Turturro as Tina
- Philip Bosco as Frank
- Jenny O’Hara as Kathy
Crew
- Directed by: Martha Coolidge
- Written by: Todd Graff
- Produced by: Hollywood Pictures / Caravan Pictures
- Released on: March 4, 1994
The Financials
- Budget: $26 million
- North American Box Office: $9.4 million
Coming Soon
Touchstone and Beyond returns in two weeks with a look at the crime thriller Billy Bathgate.