''My Uncle Rafael'' is a 2012 film directed by

Marc Fusco Marc Fusco is an American film director, screenwriter and film editor known for ''Stealing Time'', ''My Uncle Rafael'', and '' The Samuel Project''. Life and career Fusco was born to Nicola Fusco, an Italian immigrant, and Jane Fusco, and grew ...

. The screenplay was written by Scott Yagemann and Vahik Pirhamzei, based on Pirhamzei's play ''Rafael Keroo Gandzere''.

Plot

A desperate TV producer convinces an old Armenian Uncle to star in a new reality show. Cultures collide when Uncle Rafael is thrown into the Schumacher family household where he has one week to save a broken and dysfunctional American family from falling apart. The only rule-everyone must follow his rules.

Cast

John Michael Higgins John Michael Higgins (born February 12, 1963) is an American actor and comedian whose film credits include Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, the role of David Letterman in HBO's '' The Late Shift'', and a starring role in the American versio ...

as Damon *

Missi Pyle Missi Pyle (born November 16, 1972) is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in a number of successful films, including ''Galaxy Quest'' (1999), ''Big Fish'' (2003), ''Bringing Down the House'' (2003), '' Dodgeball: A True Underdog S ...

as Blair * Vahik Pirhamzei as Rafael/Hamo * Anthony Clark as Jack *

Rachel Blanchard Rachel Blanchard (born 19 March 1976) is a Canadian actress.Rachel Blanchard's bio
at ...

as Michele *

Carly Chaikin Carly Hannah Chaikin (born March 26, 1990) is an American actress. Her acting career began in 2009 and she received her breakout role two years later, co-starring as Dalia Royce in the ABC sitcom ''Suburgatory''. She played the role until the se ...

as Kim *

Ellington Ratliff Ellington Lee Ratliff (born April 14, 1993) is an American drummer and actor. He is best known as the drummer of pop rock band R5, which was active from 2009 until 2018, and as a contributor to The Driver Era. Early life Ellington Lee Ratli ...

as Photographer *

Giovanni Cirfiera Giovanni Cirfiera () is an Italian film and television actor. He is best known for portraying Santo Versace Santo Domenico Versace (; born 16 December 1944) is an Italian businessman and politician who is the president and co-chief executive ...

as Pietro

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has an approval rating of 20% based on reviews from 5 critics. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

the film has a score of 36 out of 100 based on 5 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. Gary Goldstein of ''

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'': "''My Uncle Rafael'' elicits plenty of goofy chuckles even as it regularly threatens to fly off the rails. The film, directed by Marc Fusco from a script by Scott Yagemann and star Vahik Pirhamzei (based on a character from Pirhamzei's stage plays), feels a bit made up as it goes along but, like the best send-ups, also never feels so far from the actual truth." Nick Schager of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...

'': "The term "contrived" doesn't begin to capture the sheer nonsensicality of this sitcom setup, but more painful is Rafael's shtick, which involves delivering endlessly flat punchlines such as, with regard to the show, "A pilot? But I don't fly." When not broadly riffing about love, commitment, and

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

and

Kim Kardashian Kimberly Noel Kardashian (formerly West; born October 21, 1980) is an American socialite, media personality, and businesswoman. She first gained media attention as a friend and stylist of Paris Hilton, but received wider notice after the sex ...

, Rafael heals everyone around him (all of them dull types, including the angry goth teen and misbehaving young son) with advice like "When you learn to love someone without condition, you will be loved in return"—nauseating platitudes that turn the film into a comedy of corny homilies."

References

External links

* * {{Allmovie title, 567851 2012 films Films shot in Los Angeles American independent films 2012 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films