Where I Watched It: iTunes

English Audio Description?: No

I still like to review films that don’t have audio description to talk about why they need them. I also like to remind these various companies that they are not at a 100% level of accessibility, so they should be constantly striving toward that. Even though iTunes is great for letting us know what has audio description, the fact that only a handful of titles are actually available to a blind audience with audio description is still disconcerting.

I chose Somewhere In Queens because I wanted to see what Ray Romano brought to the table as a lead actor and also as a director. This is also a Roadside Attractions film and I think audio description for them as a distributor is far from guaranteed, as witnessed by this film. Sure, they’ve been around teh block, but they also seem content with having product released without accccessibility.

Somewhere In Queens places Romano as a working class father who really doesn’t like his job, and is deeply entrenched in an Italian American neighborhood and culture, with his wife (Laurie Metcalf) who is still dealing with being a cancer survivor. They have a son who is pretty good at basketball, and Romano sees it possibly as a way for his son to get an education and not be stuck like him. Trouble arises when his son’s girlfriend breaks up with him, causing him to lose any motivation, at such a critical moment in his life. So, he does what any good father does, and guilt trips the girlfriend into not breaking up with him until after his son gets into college and on the team.

It’s a solid job from Ray both as a director and an actor. As a director he clearly has a vision for what he’s trying to say, and he has a strong sense of how to project a strong Italian American vibe through the film. This is Romano’s culture, and he’s very comfortable here. As a lead, he plays the downtrodden yet hopeful father rather well. He’s interested only in getting his son to the finish line. It’s not the most dramatic work Romano has done, but it’s nice.

Metcalf is fine in her role, though she’s perhaps written a bit aggressively. My bigger problem is that I never felt that Romano and Metcalf connected on any level. It just felt like two actors showed up, gave some good performances, but had never met before and hoped the chemistry would just come out in their scene work together. It didn’t.

As far as the audio description question, i have to say that aside from the usual of not knowing anything about anyones wardrobe, where they are, what they look like, what hairstyle they wear, who is standing in the background, who is entering or exiting a scene, what kind of car is being featured, and any multitude of things we could have gotten from audio description, this movie also features basketball. And, while it’s not a basketball film on the level of perhaps Glory Road, it does have the kid playing the sport, and the parents attending games. It would be nice to know if this kid is actually a phenom or not.

It’s a tough call here, but I think I still have to stick to my guns on this. It’s borderline. if I were to grade the film, i thought it was OK. Audio description might push it up to a B- or B, but right now I’d feel better about a C+. However, i want to see audio description added, as basketball is the thing this kid does well to rise up in the world. It’s not like he just goes outside and shoots some hoops. It is fairly integral to the plot.

Roadside Attractions, please consider representing yourself as an inclusive brand with audio description for blind and visually impaired consumers not just in theatres, but also for home video, VOD, and streaming releases.

Final Grade: Unwatchable