E-Mail This Article to a Friend UNCLE NINO

Filmmakers have frequently relied on a visiting foreigner figure to comment on prevailing social norms. The results range from the sublime (Pier Paolo Pasolini’s Teorema) to the silly (Crocodile Dundee). Robert Shallcross’s family dramedy about a bumbling Tuscan (Pierrino Mascarino) who makes a surprise visit to his nephew (Joe Mantegna) in suburban Illinois tends to the latter end of the spectrum. Indulging the stereotypes Americans and Italians have of each other, the film has the naive but culturally authentic Nino teaching his workaholic relatives about family priorities. Some moments are as hard to swallow as the boxed wine the film’s boorish Americans swill — for example, the idea that even the most provincial Italian would misunderstand the international symbol for the ladies’ room. Recommended only for children and the most sentimental viewers. (104 minutes)