And it's not just because Michael Rispoli, who plays Buddy, vaguely resembles Jackie Gleason's lumpy New York bus driver of The Honeymooners. Buddy's biggest disappointment in life came from following Estelle's hope-crushing advice not to audition for TV sensation Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts when he had the chance. With his dreams of TV stardom in the toilet, Buddy now takes every chance he can grab in hopes of leaving his little mark on the world. The latest brainstorm is the purchase of a rundown two-family house. Buddy hopes to turn the first floor of the dilapidated wreck into a neighborhood bar, while he and Estelle move into the second-floor apartment.
Problem is, the second floor is already occupied . . .
And neither the drunk nor Mary is in any mood to move. De Felitta's set-up seems headed to become a farcical version of The Honeymooners, as Buddy frustratedly deals with the couple upstairs. But it quickly turns out that the writer-director has more serious goals. Because Estelle's '50s sensibilities have been rocked to the core by the baby's arrival, she wants Mary and her child out. Exit mother and child.