An unsuccessful attempt to emulate the success of <i>My Big Fat Greek Wedding</i>. <br>

An unsuccessful attempt to emulate the success of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

Even when Angelo Barberini was at school the other kids called him a fag. Only his best friend, Nino, stood up for him. Now a grown man, Angelo, played by Luke Kirby, lives with his Italian-Canadian family, sister Anna, Claudia Ferry, parents, Paul Sorvino, Ginette Reno, in Montreal. Mom and Pop want him to marry a nice Italian girl, but when Angelo is reunited with Nino, Peter Miller, who is now working as a policeman, sparks fly and they move in together - without letting their families know the awful truth. This very mild comedy attempts to do for Italian families what My Big Fat Greek Wedding did for Greek families; even the advertising calls attention to the similarities between the two films. Even by the fairly modest standards of Greek Wedding, Mambo Italiano isn\'t very satisfying. It barely skirts caricature as it depicts the problems of its gay hero, whose family wants him to go straight, and those of his friend, who seems to swing both ways. The best performances come from Sorvino and Reno as the frustrated parents, but, despite a few amusing moments, the film has nothing really new to say and is a pretty bland experience.