Michael Ledo
Two New Jersey Italian-Americans come out on top of a shoot out with some Ukrainian mafia types. The Ukrainian mobsters are out for revenge. Our two Americans (Danny Nucci and Dan Hedaya) decide to leave the country and hide in Scotland with an honest cousin they have never seen before. Roberto (Gerald Lepkowski) is the boring Scottish cousin who runs a restaurant and ice cream parlor. Alice (Shirley Henderson) also works there, complaining about her dull life and dull Scotsmen. Roberto loves Alice but has been too shy to say anything. Now with his American cousin Gino in town, Roberto finds himself in competition with the new guy who is dashing, out going, and well hung.Meanwhile the Ukrainian mafia has put a contract out on our two American cousins while a group of local thugs shake down Roberto's establishment. The film has an indie quality to it in that it combines action-crime, drama, romance, and comedy into a production and swaps up at will. Shirley Henderson was remarkably good.F-bomb, rear nudity (Danny Nucci), no sex
mm-39
I let my wife pick the movies out, usually at a chain called Rogers. American cousins is of the quality of a made for TV movie. My wife rented the movie for they had one of HBO's 'Soprano's' on it. That is the hook to rent the movie and the 'Soprano's guy only made a small appearance in it. OK acting and directing. The viewer learns more about Scotland from watching the film. If you are going rent 2 movies this is the second one when you watch when you are tired and want to get sleepy. Entertaining enough, but not memorable. 5 out of 10. There is a romance in it, which my wife liked. This is not 'Snatch'. I think the lake they visited in the movie was used in a couple rock videos.
Ali Catterall
'The best British rom-com/culture-clash comedy in years' it says on the DVD cover. As the writer of the above blurb, I'm happy to say I haven't changed my opinion one iota. It's basically Local Hero meets The Sopranos. After a botched European hit, Mafia types Gino (Nucci) and Settimo (Dan Hedaya) take refuge in a Glasgow fish and chip shop run by their sweet-natured, stamp-collecting cousin, the Scottish/Italian Roberto (Gerald Lepkowski). When Gino takes a shine to Roberto's fellow fryer Alice (a lazily vampish Henderson) it spurs his frustrated lovesick cousin into action and sets the scene for some hilarious one-upmanship. This really is a lovely, lovely film, beautifully performed, and by Lepkowski and Henderson in particular, as the lovers-in-waiting. Perfect for cosying up with on the sofa with someone spesh and, perhaps, a couple of kittens gamboling between your toes (gambling, even I've nothing against cats betting among themselves.)
dutyman
I saw this film 7 hours ago and my sides still hurt from laughing. This is NOT high drama, but an excellent escapism film with well developed characters - deliberately stereotypes but they achieve the purpose of the director. Excellent acting - you'll walk out wiping the tears from your eyes and smiling at everybody.