Disappointment for a huge fan!

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

LOST IN YONKERS has more going for it than most movies: solid filmmaking, from script to final cut; topnotch, flawless performances by an outstanding cast; humor and drama of the highest order. Dreyfuss is incapable of a bad performance; Mercedes Ruehl holds her own (perhaps even outshining Dreyfuss in this instance); Irene Worth is the living, breathing embodiment of The Survivor- hard as steel, perhaps, but not without good reason(s); and David Strathairn as the hapless Johnny is to be pitied, to be sure- but it's the two boys, Jay (the late Brad Stoll, in a winning turn) and Arty (Mike Damus, in a performance so nuanced that it belies his years), through whose eyes we see it all, who steal the show. With direction like this (by Martha Coolidge), it COULDN'T fail. Check it out.

I've lost count of how many times I've seen this movie. It's one of my favorites, and I know I'll return to it again and again, especially when I feel the need to "feel something." The story is ostensibly about the adventures of two young boys left in the care of their hostile grandmother who owns a candy store and their run-ins with their gangster-uncle and their allegedly mentally challenged Aunt Bella. But for me, childlike Aunt Bella, brilliantly portrayed by Mercedes Ruehl, really steals the show. In spite of her reputation for being dim-witted, she displays an extraordinary depth of perception regarding the motivations of the other characters and the emotional courage to accept them with all their limitations. One of the most poignant moments in the movie for me is where the grandmother, who has suffered so much loss in her life, and prides herself on never having shed a tear in spite of all this loss, finally has the chance to be vulnerable. Does she take the chance? You'll have to watch the movie to find out!

This film more than any other epitomises for me what a certain kind of upbringing I call "a cold cradle" can do to a person. Children get their first impressions of the world through the beliefs of their parents. These impressions are indelible. Normally, early childhood is spent in the protection of loving parents, but what if these parents are not the cuddling kind? What if they despise your weakness of crying, instead of saying words of comfort? What if there is no place in your family to share feelings and fears? Even when you later discover that it is OK to feel, the defences you have built around your personality in your early years are very difficult to undo and if you have overcome them they are still triggered when you have to deal with your family. In the film we see four adult siblings who have survived the misery and rebelled, each in different ways. Most people fortunately don't know how terrible it is for the father to put his two boys into his mother's care, his fears seem exaggerated, surely a stern grandmother can't be too bad. But her type of sternness is very damaging not just to overly sensitive people. We see this more clearly as the story unfolds and we learn how each member of the family has coped and yet no one has been able to topple the matriarch from her throne. But as she takes the education of yet another generation in her hands, the tensions mount to breaking point.This film is not a comedy, though it has its funny moments. It is not a complete tragedy either, and it avoids becoming bleak and depressing. I think its greatest value is in showing those who have had a warm cradle -- fortunately most -- what it's like to have had a cold one, if it helps increase a general understanding of the emotional difficulties that these people have to overcome to unlock their shielded hearts to their fellow men.

Neil Simon finally does some serious drama in this better than best movie. Although the movie is based mainly around the two boys, I believe the moral is how one individuals power can affect the lives and dreams of everyone else.Although the movies ending was not a very happy one, it was nice to take a break from the routine "and they lived happily ever after" sort of ending. It's nice to have a not so nice ending in which most real life stories have.The movie was very well planned out and the 1940's theme was very well detailed. Although the movie was nowhere near as good as the play, I still believe it's cast deserves a high rating.