Let's be realistic.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Gina is a wonderful actress and she is marvelous in this realistic portrayal of life in New York City. In all her moods her personality rings true. The film leaves some unanswered questions but so does life.

Originally intended for Madonna (who can't act & would have definitely STUNK!), this was an excellent role for Geena Davis. "Angie" is a film about an Italian/American woman from the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, N.Y. Her mom left her when she was a child & because of this she has a romanticized notion of her mother & a deep fear of abandonment. She wants more out of life than her working class plumber boyfriend (and father of her child) can offer her so she falls in love with a lawyer from Ireland while pregnant(someone as far removed from her Brooklyn world as possible!) After the baby is born, the lawyer dumps her & she also feels rejected by her son (you'll have to see the movie to find out why) so she heads off to Texas to finally face her mom for some type of closure. Yes, this character's angst & situations can be overwhelming , but real life can be like that too sometimes. The musical score, by Jerry Goldsmith, is excellent (particularly "Angie's Theme") & compliments the movie wonderfully. The movie also has a knack for capturing the New York Italian/American experience authentically. At times, "Angie" feels like a hybrid of other films ("Working Girl", "Beaches", "Saturday Night Fever", "Moonstruck" & "Pretty Woman") but it works. (This film is based on the novel "Angie, I Says" by Avra Wing. In the book the main character's name is Tina Scacciapensiari & her best friend's name is Angie. The first names of these characters were switched for the film).

The video box cover promised hopeful viewers that the film contained inside was "a heartwarming story brimming with irrepressible fun. This was not so. We laughed at the movie, but certainly not with it. Telling the story of a hysterical, irresponsible and certainly resistable woman, this movie may be praised by critics but whatever quality they saw in it must have wound up on the cutting room floor. The characters are unlikable and obnoxious, the plot meanders without ever deciding where it wants to go, and sheer lethargy kept us from doing what we should have done five minutes into the film and shown our VCR some mercy. Do yourself a favour and avoid this mess, whatever the video box may say.

The protagonist (Geena Davis) was told she was abandoned by her mother, grew up with secrecy surrounding the whereabouts of her mother, was lied to, and felt abandonment issues that she had to deal with -- much like an adoptee. Her stepmother tried to pretend she was the mother of Gina's charactor. Geena's character left her own baby for awhile, but regretted it later. One amazing and gratifying detail for me is when the step-mother character admitted that Geena's charactor was the mother of her child and "we" (her and her husband) had no rights coming between them (which they had been trying to do). So unlike mothers in real life, this woman was allowed to reclaim her child after she dealt with her problems. It's a good movies for exploring adoption issues.