Public Servant Lifestyle

Two US Mafiosi go into hiding in the Glasgow café of a cousin they have never met before. Needless to say it is not the safe haven they think it might be...much hilarity ensues.

American Cousins

TV's Sopranos mobster Vincent 'Big Pussy' Pastore joins Titanic star Danny Nucci and Shirley Henderson from Bridget Jones' Diary in a new romantic comedy - American Cousins.

Two American Mafiosi, Gino and Settimo, are forced to go into hiding after they murder two rival criminals from the Ukrainian Mafia in self-defence. On the advice of Tony, the head of their New Jersey crime family, they take refuge in the Glasgow café owned by a cousin they have never met before, believing it to be a save haven and the last place that their adversaries will find them. Cousin Roberto and his grandfather Nonno are decent, ordinary people, whose lifestyles are remarkably at odds with Gino and Settimo’s own lives in the US.

You think you've got family problems...

Being honourable Mafiosi types, Gino and Settimo try to repay Roberto’s kindness by warding off a debt collector who wants his property, but their heavy-handed approach to his predicament makes him realise that they are not the PR consultants that they claim to be.

Increasing the dramatic tension is a love triangle that ensues when Roberto and Gino compete for the attention of Alice, the woman that Roberto has secretly loved for years and who also happens to be his employee. The final straw is when Roberto discovers a suitcase full of plants, which he assumes to be drugs. However, Settimo reveals that the plants are not illegal drugs but cuttings of a new variety of vine set to revolutionise the wine industry because it can grow in any climate.

In the meantime, Roberto finally musters up the courage to reveal his true feelings to Alice. But before he has the opportunity to propose to her, he finds her in a passionate embrace with Gino. To make matters worse, Nonno who suffers a heart attack tragically passes away.

Gangsters

Further complications arise when the Ukrainian gangsters are tipped off about the Americans whereabouts, and they declare war on Gino and Settimo and their Scottish cousin. Against all the odds Roberto identifies a place of sanctuary – the stone church attached to the café that his father wanted to turn into an Italian restaurant – but to ward off the Ukrainians he has to set fire to his business. With the emergency services subsequently responding to the fire, the Ukrainian Mafia flee the area.

With his business in ruins and against the backdrop of the remains of the café, Roberto declares his undying love for Alice. She admits that she feels the same way and that the kiss with Gino had been a drunken mistake. Meanwhile, the local debt collector that the Americans managed to deter this time returns with his heavies, out to exact revenge.

Just as Roberto is about to be hauled away by the local thugs, a fleet of taxis pulls up outside his café, containing Tony and his entire New Jersey family. The Americans have decamped to Glasgow to avoid being decimated in a gangland war. The sight of a whole troupe of New Jersey hoods sends the debt collector and his entourage packing.

Five years later, the ruins of Roberto’s café and the church have been transformed into a grandiose Italian restaurant. Adjoining this elegant eatery, his American Cousins have built a warehouse from which the Caledonian Chianti Company operates. The surrounding Glaswegian wasteland has been transformed into a vibrant vineyard, with row after row of vines from the seedling that Settimo once showed to Roberto.

Caledonian Chianti Company

At a recent UK media screening Maxim praised American Cousins as, "A superior mob comedy that puts Analyse This firmly in the shade."

Director Don Coutts’ debut feature also previewed “to enormous acclaim” in New York and Chicago and has gleaned a host of tributes from critics at film festivals around the world.

Hollywood bible Variety described it as “a distinctive blend of warm comedy and violence”. It said the film was “sly and self-assured” and “compares favourably with such quirky gems as Bill Forsyth’s Local Hero and Comfort and Joy, as well as Waking Ned Divine "

Of particular interest to UK film fans will be outstanding performances by cult Hollywood actor Dan Hedaya (Mulholland Drive/The Usual Suspects/Alien: Resurrection), Scots veteran Russell Hunter (Callan/A Touch Of Frost/Sherlock Holmes And The Masks Of Death), and Gerald Lepkowski (The Ryans/Monarch Of The Glen) in his first leading role on the big screen.

Scottish Filmmaking

American Cousins is one of several feature films spearheading a renaissance in Scottish filmmaking. These include Young Adam, Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself, 16 Years Of Alcohol, Solid Air, and Afterlife.

US critic Bob Patterson said of this most recent example of the Scottish ‘new wave’: "American Cousins successfully manages to blend examples of the ‘Mafia mayhem’, ‘Two-guys-competing-for-a-woman’s-affection’ and ‘Happiness-means-opening-your-own-restaurant’ genres into one successful and unique concoction that has the distinctive signature of a clever chef de cinema written all over it.’’

"Tricking guys into enjoying a flick that women will like might start a new genre of imitators, and that won’t hurt the screenwriter’s and director’s careers either."

American Cousins is out now on DVD.

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