madbandit20002000 I never really had any true friends when I was growing up (I was weird, okay), but I know that the best friends are the ones who stay around. "Queens Logic", an under-looked , sleeper indie film (unless you look really hard in the discount DVD bins) starring a name cast, proves that in the largest borough of New York City.Wedding jitters plague Ray (Ken Olin of "thirtysomething" and a producer of "Alias"), since he's a talented painter born and residing in Queens, and is about to marry longtime sweetheart Patty (Chloe Webb) a hairdresser with a philosophical outlook. His other pals from childhood, fish marketer cousin Al (the talented Joe Mantegna of "Criminal Minds"), Al's right-hand man Eliot (John Malkovich of "Changeling"), visiting musician Dennis (Kevin Bacon) and working actor Vin (Tony Spiridakis, who co-wrote the film with Joey Savino) help him out by throwing a decent bachelor's party (men and women invited), but they each have their problems.Despite his jester charm, Al's Peter Pan persona irritates his frustrated wife Carla (the sexy Linda Fiorentino); Eliot's a homosexual who has no desire to play "the love game"; Dennis's still struggling on making it big in Los Angeles and Vin gets one-night stands but no romance. Adulthood: IT SUCKS! But not this film.Director Steve Rash ("The Buddy Holly Story", "Can't Buy Me Love" and the two DTV sequels to "Bring It On") is competent, but the actors help out more, pumping the tale with humanity, especially Mantegna's breezy, arrested development demeanor, Malkovich's non-stereotypical attitude and Webb's down to earth perspective. Also entertaining is Jamie Lee Curtis as a high society dame, who gives Al a lesson about maturity in a colorful way, and rocker Tom Waits as a gravel-voiced but likable lowlife associate of the gang. Look for a pre- "Will & Grace" Megan Mullany as a drunken conquest of Vin's. The film's soundtrack is littered with rock and disco tunes from the 1970s, the decade the guys grew up.Likable, poignant, sly, funny and a love letter to its' backdrop (Queens's Hellgate Bridge is prominent here), "Queens Logic" reminds us, despite how we grow up or wherever we are in our lives, the neighborhood we grew up is part of us and vice versa, and the best friends we have reminds us of that.

kdrobin I have seen a ton of reviews of this movie over the years and I am always shocked and disappointed as to how "low" the movie is rated. This is simply one of the best movies ever made. It's that simple. Look at the cast: John Malkevich, Joseph Montegna, Chloe Webb, Linda Fiorentino, Kevin Bacon, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ken Olin, and on and on (including Tom Waits - hysterical as Monte). It is sweet and funny and engaging and the sound track is super. I have the DVD and I have lent it out to friends dozens of times and the before and after is always the same: before "never heard of it" - after "loved it" --- and it doesn't matter the age or gender or politics of the viewer. Sure it helps if they are from some urban area as opposed to a rural area. And it helps if childhood friendships still mean something to them. But even if you're a lifelong lonely country boy, you should love this movie.

ranwulf God - I love this movie! I must've seen it 20 times by now, and I still can't pass it up when it appears on some random cable station at 1 in the morning! This film was an epiphany to me - great cast, great characters, great story, great locations - all without becoming a stereotyped "Nu Yawk" movie. And Tom Waits as Monte? Perfect! Whenever I see this, it makes me miss the City. I was really lucky to have lived there in the early 90's - only a little later than the film's setting. Anyone who doesn't think these Bridge & Tunnel characters are real should spend some time in the boroughs. I highly recommend this film to anyone who wants a slice of New York City life away from the glitz of Manhattan.

Fred Released in 1991, this movie captures a quality New York possessed in the late eighties. The characters seem genuinely capable of making the wisecracks the script has them make. They're middle-class urbanites who are capable of desperate violence. Yet, they are not particularly violent. They are haunted by the hardscrabble lives of their parents. The story involves a group of people in their early-to-mid-thirties. They've known each other since childhood. The plot is this: Will the scheduled marriage between two members of this group actually take place? While he is not the lead actor here, John Malkovich plays a character who embodies the dilemma each one of the characters faces. Each one wishes he were somewhere else and yet each one would give his right arm for anybody else in this circle of friends. Unlike his friends, he is gay, but what he has in common with them is the sense that the upper-class will have nothing to do with him. He is dating an upwardly-mobile man and his confrontation with him is still refreshing thirteen years after this movie was filmed. Many movies and TV series have dealt with this milieu, but very few have pulled it off. It is not entirely believable--there's an over-the-top story-line with Jamie Lee Curtis as a smooth-talker who enchants the edgy Joe Mantegna--but it's assertive. QUEENS LOGIC is well worth viewing.