One of the best holiday movies ever. Has a little bit of something for the whole family... Christmas cinema royalty

When I first saw this film many years ago I had no idea it was based on the true story of how Frank Pesce Jr. won the lottery, so it came as a bit of a surprise when I bought the DVD a couple of weeks ago and found out that it was. It's a lovely, funny, poignant film about the relationship between father(Aiello) and youngest offspring (LaPaglia). As a seasoned film actor Aiello puts in a solid performance. More interestingly LaPaglia who must have been approx 34 and hadn't yet made those many films up to this point is staggeringly good at portraying Frank Pesce from age 16 to mid twenties. This is definitely one of his classier performances. I particularly liked the running joke about the father's pizzas. Also of interest is that the real life Frank Pesce plays his own older brother!! All in all the film is a little miracle.

This is one of those films where you just stay glued to the story to see what happens next. It was completely 180 degrees from what I thought it was going to be.

I was expecting a story about how the first New York State lottery winner dealt with his new riches, and what I found was the Italian-American version of It's A Wonderful Life.

This movie has it all - mobsters (of course, it's about Italian-Americans), dysfunctional families, drinking and gambling, but, most of all, a whole lot of laughs.

You just can't believe how incredibly lucky Frank Pesce (young Anthony LaPaglia) is. This guy sets stabbed in the gut and comes up roses. He is drifting about aimlessly in a family where dad (Danny Aiello in a super role) has a gambling problem. These two together are a riot! It even includes the real lottery winner, Frank Pesce. Lanie Kazan from My Big Fat Greek Wedding played a great Italian-American mom. Happy Mother's Day.

You should check this out if you like Italian-American comedy. Capice?