CITY ISLAND

★★ 1/2 out of four stars

Rating: PG-13 for vulgar language, brief nudity, sexual situations, adult themes.

Where: Landmark Edina 4.

After starring in a string of heavy dramas, Andy Garcia lightens up in "City Island," a breezy comedy that fits the actor like a guayabera. He stars as Vince Rizzo, the patriarch of a boisterous Italian-American family in the eponymous Bronx suburb whose members constantly lie to each other, until those lies snowball.

Before that happens, though, Vince, a prison guard, is taking acting lessons but hiding them from his wife (Julianna Margulies), who thinks he's having an affair. Their daughter, Vivian (Dominik Garcia-Lorido), has dropped out of college and is moonlighting as a stripper. Their teenage son, Vinnie (Ezra Miller), has a fetish for overweight women and learns that an obese neighbor maintains a members-only website. And although everyone smokes cigarettes, they claim they don't.

Written and directed by Raymond de Felitta, "City Island" maintains a brisk, farcical pace as Vince discovers he has an illegitimate son, Tony (Steven Strait). The easygoing young man serves as a catalyst for the plot, which gradually brings together a multitude of threads for one gigantic (and loud) family pow-wow.

Until then, Garcia, in his most lively and enjoyable performance in years, reminds viewers what a charismatic screen presence he can be.

RENE RODRIGUEZ, MIAMI HERALD