Somewhere in Queens (2022) review

Leo Russo (Romano) - who comes from a family of construction workers - wants his son "Sticks" (Jacob Ward) to play basketball for Drexel University, but when his girlfriend Dani (Sadie Stanley) suddenly breaks up with him and he has a depressive spell, Leo "bribes" her to stay with him just until the tryouts are over.  As Romano's directorial debut (he also co-wrote the screenplay), it's this off-putting blend of sitcom and sad real-world drama (Leo's wife, played by Laurie Metcalf, is a cancer survivor) ... and it's even stranger that he would include not one, but two Manic Pixie Dream Girls - the second being recently-widowed and amorous Pamela (Jennifer Esposito) - as plot devices.  It ends with the young man unwisely turning down a scholarship and trying to be ... a poet.  I watched him on the court and listened to his words and he should stick to dribbling.