The Mattachine Family *** (2023, Nico Tortorella, Juan Pablo Di Pace, Emily Hampshire, Jake Choi, Garrett Clayton, Carl Clemons-Hopkins) – Classic Movie Review 12,630

Andy Vallentine’s amusing, likeable 2023 comedy drama film The Mattachine Family is the heartfelt story of a loving gay male married couple who find they have different ideas about family after their beloved foster son is reunited with his birth mother. 

Director Andy Vallentine’s amusing, likeable 2023 comedy drama film The Mattachine Family is the heartfelt story of a loving gay male married couple who discover they have different ideas about family after their beloved foster son is returned to live with his birth mother. Vallentine calls it ‘a queer story about the universality of love, family and community.’

Nico Tortorella and Juan Pablo Di Pace play LA photographer Thomas and actor Oscar, who struggle to maintain their relationship and stay in love through various setbacks. Their foster child has just been reunited with his birth mother. While Oscar’s acting career finally takes off far away from LA in Michigan for months of filming, Thomas is alone in LA and has an early midlife existential crisis. Thomas starts looking into surrogacy and renewed fostering, but Oscar is career oriented. While the couple can’t agree about having another child, Thomas leans on support and love from his close-knit group of friends.

The Mattachine Family is probably too sentimental and emotional, pushing its luck from time to time, especially at the end. But it has good themes and interesting thoughts, is entertaining, and it feels real and fresh enough. It is warm and well meaning, and tackles all the issues involved, intelligently and thoughtfully, yet most comedically. It is quite rewarding, whether you agree or sympathise with Thomas or Oscar. The whole gang are a bit too darned nice for comfort but the actors make their characters credible. Nico Tortorella has almost the whole film to himself, but shows he merits his casting in a well-judged, appealing performance. Maybe the film is a bit too darned nice for comfort too, but the writers Andy Vallentine and Danny Vallentine make it credible and touching too. Comedic and cuddly it may be, but many aspects of the film are deadly earnest and serious. It’s quite a nice mix.

The executive producer is Zach Braff.

Director Andy Vallentine explains: ‘The Mattachine Family picks up at a critical moment in the life of our protagonist, Thomas (Tortorella). The child he and his husband, Oscar (Di Pace), fostered has been reunited with his birth mother and Oscar’s long-stagnant career as an actor has picked up and sent him to Michigan for months of filming. In the bewildering lurch of change and loss, Thomas embarks on a journey to figure out what he wants from life and what it means to be gay in 2021, when so many possibilities have opened up for people who grew up thinking that marriage and children were closed off to them.

‘At its heart, this is a story about family, about the bonds we form with friends and lovers and children, and the way those relationships define us, elude us, and perplex us. Parenthood is an exchange of identities for everyone. Anyone who has considered and worried about the enormous changes that come with parenthood will appreciate this film. Anyone who values their chosen family and community will appreciate this film. Anyone who has ever felt lost in love will appreciate this film. That’s what I think is so special about The Mattachine Family. We have told a queer story about the universality of love, family, and community.’

The Mattachine Society, founded in 1950, was an early US gay rights organization.

As seen in the film, The Mattachine Steps, also known as the Cove Avenue stairway, is an outdoor staircase in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, dedicated to the Mattachine Society in 2012 in memory of its founder Harry Hay.

© Derek Winnert 2023 – Classic Movie Review 12,630

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The Mattachine Steps.