WHAT IT'S ABOUT: The Village is a quaint old apartment building in Brooklyn filled with tenants who care about each other and have each other's backs. There's Sarah (Michaela McManus), a VA nurse and single mom to rebellious high schooler Katie (Grace Van Dien). There's Gabe (Daren Kagasoff), a law student who now has to worry about his strong-willed granddad, Enzo (Dominic Chianese). There's Ava (Moran Atias), an immigrant and mom. There are Ron (Frankie Faison) and Patricia (Lorraine Toussaint), good-hearted proprietors and landlords of The Village. Next door is Ben (Jerod Haynes), a New York City cop who watches over his neighbors.
One day, Nick (Warren Christie) arrives. He's ex-Army and wounded _ missing a leg below the knee that he lost in Iraq. Besides the war, he has a particularly complicated back story.
MY SAY: The first bare-naked pitch to patriotism and the heartland arrives at the 18-minute mark. The first Funny Old Guy scene at the three-minute one. The first Heartfelt Sad Moment follows that. The Good-Hearted Cop arrives 10 minutes in. The first indie pop song (meant to elicit tears) tracks about 25 minutes in. The Cute Dog arrives right on schedule at the 34-minute mark, and six minutes after that, The Unexpected Twist None of Us Saw Coming.
