Lisa Davis

I was very disappointed by this movie! It was very hard to follow, and seemed to jump from one scene to the next. Instead of having a good script or even a good story line, it depended on random episodes of violence and a backdrop of vintage props and music from the 60’s and 70’s to keep the audience’s attention. In fact, my conclusion is that David Chase intended to give us the movie “Cleaver” with stereotypical characters acting in a horror movie because he must think the the Soprano fans want that, or have no discernment when it comes to mob movies. I was annoyed by all the actors who mimicked their character from the series with the exception of Livia, who added background to the original character in the series. Tony’s father did not seem like his TV father at all. I found it confusing to use Ray Liotta to portray two different people, and why wouldn’t brothers have more in common, at least their diction. The young Tony did a good job, considering the script and story line. I agree with another reviewer that by 30 minutes left in the movie, I was checking to see if it was over soon!

The dynamic of the show’s characters, the immature, selfish husband and the suffering wife, has been a sitcom staple since All in the Family, The Simpsons, and Everyone Loves Raymond. The fact that she is angry in a type of alternate universe and her super ego neighbor are something new, but it is not entertaining or comfortable to watch. I think better shows that explored different but breakout themes of women trapped by their circumstance were Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and even The Sopranos. I don’t think this show will last.