Episode 206 - Little Italy

[JCVDFanClub 16]

I don't think enough emphasis was put on how crazy it is that an entire bar full of people were willing to go out in the pouring rain to watch a bartender and some girl who just got to the bar do a soccer shootout.  Does Luigi close the bar for this?  I'd be pissed if I was sitting there on a cold rainy night, sipping a beer, and the owner tells me and everyone to get the fuck out to go watch these people do some flirty, mildly athletic activity in the rain.  It would be impossible to convince everyone to leave, and it's horrible for business. I, for one, would never go back if that happened.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

I just described this movie to my coworker and he said he had actually already seen this exact movie on TV and then he sent me the IMDB link and holy shit y'all, this movie has literally already been covered 13 years before Canada decided to do it.

I present to y'all - Pizza My Heart

[gigi-tastic 2322]

Ok so I'm not really that Italian. My great grandmother is from Naples and I have a VAST array of second, third, fourth + cousins on my grandfather's side (actually on my grandma's side as well. Kentucky hillbillies also breed big extensive families). But  outside of my great grandmother 's sauce recipe that sadly died with my grandma (truly a a horrific tragedy) and birthday cassata cakes we were pretty much like everyone else which I suspect is the case for most people outside of major cities and close knit cultural groups. So I'm not really qualified to say that this couldn't be someone's experience.... Maybe. In a racist fever dream... But honestly the only Italian moment for ME was when one of the mom's screams "MANGIA!" which means eat. My great grandmother used to apparently yell at my great grandpa Joe. " Mangia! Mangia! C'mon Joe! " To finish whatever food was left and it's something we often say at family dinners. So that was nice. That's honestly they only moment that felt authentic to me. Oh and the lamenting about waiting  to die by the grandma... But that's just something a certain kind of grandparent does.

[JCVDFanClub 16]

4 minutes ago, taylorannephoto said:

I just described this movie to my coworker and he said he had actually already seen this exact movie on TV and then he sent me the IMDB link and holy shit y'all, this movie has literally already been covered 13 years before Canada decided to do it.

I present to y'all - Pizza My Heart

Wow. That is just...blatant.

[gigi-tastic 2322]

13 minutes ago, taylorannephoto said:

Okay I just want to point out something that I could not let go of throughout my entire viewing of this movie.

Hayden is ten years older than Emma Roberts. A fully blown decade and they wanted us all to believe that they grew up together. Now that's not where this post ends because I looked up someone else - Miss Perfection Alyssa Milano, and she is 9 years older than Hayden.

This leading man is literally closer in age to the woman playing his love interest's mother.

FUCKING THANK YOU!!!!!!!

THIS WAS BOTHERING ME THE WHOLE MOVIE

We get it! We ladies become shriveled hags the second we turn 25!!! 

But seriously FUCK this movie. Unless Phoebe (she will always be Phoebe from Charmed to me) got knocked up at 19 while Lay-O was 9 and her husband is like that other guy's unofficial little brother that that couple like... Took them in it something (I would actually watch this movie about a young teen couple with a baby living above a pizza place and finding this friendship and becoming adults)it's fucking sexist, agest bullshit.

[taylor anne photo 11311]

6 minutes ago, gigi-tastic said:

Ok so I'm not really that Italian. My great grandmother is from Naples and I have a VAST array of second, third, fourth + cousins on my grandfather's side (actually on my grandma's side as well. Kentucky hillbillies also breed big extensive families). But  outside of my great grandmother 's sauce recipe that sadly died with my grandma (truly a a horrific tragedy) and birthday cassata cakes we were pretty much like everyone else which I suspect is the case for most people outside of major cities and close knit cultural groups. So I'm not really qualified to say that this couldn't be someone's experience.... Maybe. In a racist fever dream... But honestly the only Italian moment for ME was when one of the mom's screams "MANGIA!" which means eat. My great grandmother used to apparently yell at my great grandpa Joe. " Mangia! Mangia! C'mon Joe! " To finish whatever food was left and it's something we often say at family dinners. So that was nice. That's honestly they only moment that felt authentic to me. Oh and the lamenting about waiting  to die by the grandma... But that's just something a certain kind of grandparent does.

The friend I watched with said her family is from literally just outside of Naples!!! I believe it's also her great grandmother who came to America and she said her mother definitely had a more authentic cultural Italian childhood so there were a lot of things that carried over to her (definitely food and shit which makes me so jealous). There were a lot of things she would be like, "That's fake as fuck," but like she said that about this whole feud and then immediately was like, "Except my grandmother hasn't talked to her brother in 40 years so..." She was really not happy about that feud though lol. Like she definitely pointed out how shitty and stereotypical the music was but for some reason the whole reason for the feud really bothered her and she thought that was the most offensive part, but she then told me later she might be carrying over some feelings from her personal life haha.

The part we laughed about the most was the way Emma Roberts said any Italian words. We now text each other "STU PEE DO" regularly and it makes me very happy lol.

[Erik B 10]

Not sure how many people noticed, but when Emma Roberts first returns to her folks' pizza shop, there's a male customer whose pizza her dad turns on its side when he gets insulted. Emma Roberts makes a point to call the customer by his name, Mr. Puzo. His shirt is embroidered "Mario." Mario Puzo is the famous author of The Godfather. It had to be intentional, and you know the screenwriters felt reeeally good about slipping it in.

[gigi-tastic 2322]

2 minutes ago, taylorannephoto said:

The friend I watched with said her family is from literally just outside of Naples!!! I believe it's also her great grandmother who came to America and she said her mother definitely had a more authentic cultural Italian childhood so there were a lot of things that carried over to her (definitely food and shit which makes me so jealous). There were a lot of things she would be like, "That's fake as fuck," but like she said that about this whole feud and then immediately was like, "Except my grandmother hasn't talked to her brother in 40 years so..." She was really not happy about that feud though lol. Like she definitely pointed out how shitty and stereotypical the music was but for some reason the whole reason for the feud really bothered her and she thought that was the most offensive part, but she then told me later she might be carrying over some feelings from her personal life haha.

The part we laughed about the most was the way Emma Roberts said any Italian words. We now text each other "STU PEE DO" regularly and it makes me very happy lol.

Oh we feud VERY well. My grandma used to complain sometimes that she somehow raised 6 only children . To me the most offense part was really ... Just the whole movie? LOL. Mostly the accents and the general we're ITALIAN!!!!! and of COURSE that hair dye. That was just... Unforgivable.The fields of Canada will run red with that hair and make-up teams blood.

#stew pee do for life

[AlmostAGhost 2718]

I'm not Italian, but I am Indian and I get to be offended by this movie too!  Fun for all!

[grudlian. 4725]

37 minutes ago, AlmostAGhost said:

Exactly!  And how about when they were making dinner and he was basically like 'stop helping me, I'm making you a pizza'.  She's in culinary school!  She's better at this than you are, even if you're a man with a pizza oven in his apartment.

Also, I should have screenshotted this but when he took the pizza out of that pizza oven, he put his hand right straight on that pizza paddle thing!

Since the peel is wooden, he might be able to put his hand under it briefly. But I'd probably just use a metal one for a 700 degree oven that small.

Like June recognized lack of soccer skills, I recognize these guys are not good at making pizza dough. I worked at a pizza place in high school and college. I could, right now, toss dough better than anyone in this movie and that was 20 years ago. I know there are different ways to stretch dough and you don't need to spin it in the air but that's definitely what they were trying to show.

[gigi-tastic 2322]

So I don't know how to say this because I feel like I'm going to be going into stereotypes but I'm going to try. 

So when Luigi says he became Luigi because Of Luigi (henceforth known as Mario for clarity sake) took him in because he was gay and everyone was very accepting in Little Italy. Which is Great!  However in my experience with (some not all) Italian American men there is a deep seeded culture of toxic masculinity. Like big time. Machismo is a big deal. I'm not saying that it's impossible for Mario to embrace Luigi just that I feel like he probably would have had some issues unless he was closeted at work. Not that people would be like.... Violent. I've just experienced how oddly uncomfortable a certain type gets when coming in contact with anything they seem feminine or queer. They try to over assert their masculinity as if being gay somehow makes you less manly and by being the ULTRA man you could never possibly be taken as one? It's incomprehensible frankly.

[gigi-tastic 2322]

Was I the only one who thought that the dueling restaurant workers were siblings from the way they fought until they fell in love at the wedding? What is it with this movie and sibling undertones in the romance? Also why is THAT a category on pornhub? Sorry this question needs to be asked. Who wants to watch siblings going at it?? I'm concerned about you guys.

[caro_fine 14]

Did anyone else see that the photo of Danny Aiello that Emma Roberts puts face down before her and Hayden Christensen bone down is Danny Aielo's IMDB photo? I love that they couldn't be bothered to find any other old picture of him.  

[taylor anne photo 11311]

So not being Italian, nor Indian, I didn't have a great barometer for what was really just beyond the line of stereotype (obviously I can still see the stink of problematic characterizations from a mile away lol), but as a queer girl I was heavily bothered by the fact that once Luigi meets the one other gay man in this whole movie, who's also just flamboyant af, they immediately fall in love. Because apparently no other gay, bi, or pan men exist in this entire area so Luigi just hears his voice and is like OMG A GAY DUDE and that's it they're both kissing at that wedding in the final scene.

Cool cool cool cool cool cool cool no doubt no doubt.

[Napoi75 14]

Quick question: is Andrea Martin making a joke at the end when she says that she is pregnant? I hope so, because she’s 72 YEARS OLD. I’m not an ob-gyn, but that doesn’t sound biologically possible. And if it is, it seems irresponsible. 

[grudlian. 4725]

Immediately after watching Little Italy, I watched the Oscar nominated doc Black Sheep. It's free on vimeo and amazing and you should watch it.

It's about a black man telling his struggle to fit in with white racists by pretending to be as white as possible, picking up their accent, etc. to have any friends. It made me think of Luigi in this movie who is clearly a person of color adopting the stereotypical persona of white locals to feel any kind of acceptance. While I recognize this is an everyday think for people of color, but the synergy of seeing these two movies back to back actually made me appreciate Luigi as a character (not how over the top flamboyant he is of course).

[gigi-tastic 2322]

2 hours ago, taylorannephoto said:

So not being Italian, nor Indian, I didn't have a great barometer for what was really just beyond the line of stereotype (obviously I can still see the stink of problematic characterizations from a mile away lol), but as a queer girl I was heavily bothered by the fact that once Luigi meets the one other gay man in this whole movie, who's also just flamboyant af, they immediately fall in love. Because apparently no other gay, bi, or pan men exist in this entire area so Luigi just hears his voice and is like OMG A GAY DUDE and that's it they're both kissing at that wedding in the final scene.

Cool cool cool cool cool cool cool no doubt no doubt.

But Taylor there can be only one to two of us per film! How could a city like Toronto with one of the largest Pride events in North America POSSIBLY have more than two queer people?! How on earth could a city with the longest running queer theater and apparently a bunch more fascinating other LGBTQ+ history hold any more than that?!?! It's just impossible!

I really do think maybe Little Italy is some kind of weird magic forsaken town no one can leave . Like a really stereotype -y Matrix Nikki just THINKS she was in London? Or maybe she's the Chosen One who alone can travel?

[SevenDollarsWorthofHoobastank 226]

Hayden gave such a sleepy performance in this movie. I was expecting his character to be a lean/purple drank/Codeine addict in need of rehabilitation.

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

This is a Paul-level tangent into my history, but I am Italian-American. Except we didn’t know it until I was in high school (my great grandfather came here from Italy in the early 1900s but he died young and we didn’t know about him, it’s a long story). So when we learned we were Italian my dad and his siblings would do a lot of Italian -American voices and jokes—mostly from the Sopranos and mob movies. And that is what the accents in this movie are. People with no actual connection to the culture. 

Taylor Anne made me feel really angry for Alyssa Milano. She is Italian too! She should’ve been the lead! 

 

[gigi-tastic 2322]

31 minutes ago, Elektra Boogaloo said:

This is a Paul-level tangent into my history, but I am Italian-American. Except we didn’t know it until I was in high school (my great grandfather came here from Italy in the early 1900s but he died young and we didn’t know about him, it’s a long story). So when we learned we were Italian my dad and his siblings would do a lot of Italian -American voices and jokes—mostly from the Sopranos and mob movies. And that is what the accents in this movie are. People with no actual connection to the culture. 

Taylor Anne made me feel really angry for Alyssa Milano. She is Italian too! She should’ve been the lead! 

 

She would have been way better than Roberts to. I never feel like she's her character I always feel like "oh Emma Roberts is here"

[taylor anne photo 11311]

17 minutes ago, gigi-tastic said:

She would have been way better than Roberts to. I never feel like she's her character I always feel like "oh Emma Roberts is here"

I truthfully had a conscious thought during their date scene that she is a terrible actress in this. Maybe just in general? I haven't seen her in too much so maybe she's actually really bad.

[AskMeAboutAirBud 10]

Two points:

1. In reference to the rain scene it seems everyone's concern was for good reason. According to imdb Hayden Christensen badly sprained his ankle during the scene, causing him to miss a week of shooting.

 

2. The reason for Emma Robertson leaving was speculated. I felt the movie attempted to explain it as her "leaving a place that never changes and seeing the world". 

This sentiment is fine, except for the fact that she was clearly born in Toronto. As someone living in a city nearby, I assure you it is no small town. Toronto is one of the most diverse and most populated cities in Canada. All she needed to do was move a couple blocks, not go across an ocean. 

[SideofMcG 225]

Loved Jason calling people out left right and centre this week!

Franklin Leonard and Silversun Pickups should be on the show and write a theme respectively.

 

 

[bonerhonkfarts 16]

*sneezes into shot glasses* 

[Elektra Boogaloo 3371]

1 hour ago, taylorannephoto said:

I truthfully had a conscious thought during their date scene that she is a terrible actress in this. Maybe just in general? I haven't seen her in too much so maybe she's actually really bad.

I've only really seen her in the terrible Nancy Drew movie. That was sad. This show might want to consider that. What else has she been in? Wasn't she in an American Horror Story?