At an advance screening, local exterior shots elicited applause from a local audience. Local co-producers Robert Teitel and George Tillman, Jr. set this Christmas-time family story in wintry Humboldt Park. It’s a pleasing, good-looking feature about a Puerto Rican family that should travel with ease beyond the west side, just as “Barbershop” and “Roll Bounce,” two earlier ensemble features from Teitel and Tillman, found audiences far from the south side. Alfredo de Villa (“Washington Heights”) directs a script by Rick Najera and Alison Swan (“Mixing Nia”) that defaults to simplistic, unsatisfying revelations and resolutions in the last reel. We get the usual roster of issues for a family get-together film. Best performance comes from former Humbodt Parker and executive producer Freddy Rodriguez, who plays an Iraq war vet with survivor guilt trying to reunite with a former true love. John Leguizamo plays his older brother, a New York exec with a Debra Messing as his Jewish exec wife. These characters are fine company. They deserve better sub-plots in their stockings. With Alfred Molina, Elizabeth Peña, Jay Hernandez, Melonie Diaz, Vanessa Ferlito and Luis Guzman. 99m. (Bill Stamets)
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At an advance screening, local exterior shots elicited applause from a local audience. Local co-producers Robert Teitel and George Tillman, Jr. set this Christmas-time family story in wintry Humboldt Park. It’s a pleasing, good-looking feature about a Puerto Rican family that should travel with ease beyond the west side, just as “Barbershop” and “Roll Bounce,” two earlier ensemble features from Teitel and Tillman, found audiences far from the south side. Alfredo de Villa (“Washington Heights”) directs a script by Rick Najera and Alison Swan (“Mixing Nia”) that defaults to simplistic, unsatisfying revelations and resolutions in the last reel. We get the usual roster of issues for a family get-together film. Best performance comes from former Humbodt Parker and executive producer Freddy Rodriguez, who plays an Iraq war vet with survivor guilt trying to reunite with a former true love. John Leguizamo plays his older brother, a New York exec with a Debra Messing as his Jewish exec wife. These characters are fine company. They deserve better sub-plots in their stockings. With Alfred Molina, Elizabeth Peña, Jay Hernandez, Melonie Diaz, Vanessa Ferlito and Luis Guzman. 99m. (Bill Stamets)
