Synopsis: Life among insecure, middle-aged character actors, former New Yorkers in L.A., is the main plot focus of this comedy about four friends who want the same role in the next Martin Scorsese gangster flick. Balding Johnny DiMartino is so excited by the news of a possible part as Al Capone in a Scorsese film that he informs ladies' man Dorian Masstandrea, who is cheating on his wife, Samantha. Dorian immediately makes moves to get his own audition. Steve Hersh tries to get through to Scorsese, although his wife Joanne is convinced he doesn't have a chance. Soon all three are secretly seeking out Armand for coaching in Sicilian characteristics, convinced that their friend has actual "connections" with the mob. Johnny's struggling actor friends will stop at nothing to get a piece of the action.

Cast:
Robert Costanzo .... Johnny DiMartino
Adam Arkin .... Steve Hersh
Jon Tenney .... Dorian Mastandrea
David Strathairn .... Armand Minetti
Amy Madigan .... Hannah DiMartino
Laura San Giacomo .... Joanne Hersh
Elle Macpherson .... Samantha Mastandrea
Lauren Tom .... Yolanda Chin
Beverly D'Angelo .... Theresa Carpenter
Frederika Kesten .... Catrice

Favorite Quotes:
• Armand: "There you go again! A guy's got a little money, and right away you think he got it from Murder Incorporated!"
Steve: "Well...where-where did you get your money?"
Armand: "Steve, it is none of your business."

• Armand: "Look at you! Think you're so smart with your slick showbiz lives, spitting out one lie after another. Give me that chair!" [places mysterious briefcase on a chair & looks everyone over] "You have any idea what it's like to be typecast your whole life? Huh? Have people smile to your face but behind your back whisper, 'Oh, watch out for him. You know who his family is'? Or what it's like to be a kid and elicit fear from grown people? A kid does not want to be feared, he wants to be loved. But fear is what you grow up with, it's the air you breathe, and soon you cultivate that fear. You learn to look people in the eyes and just make them shake. It's pathetic. But those whispers still hurt! Smiles and whispers, smiles and whispers. You know, it splits you right in half. You walk around with stitches going down right the center of your body! Oh, but then you discover there are people in this world who have it every which way. Yeah, they get all the roles, and they are loved for it, because they are our magicians; they are our sorcerers. And you start to think, 'Hey, I can do that because I understand both sides. I am both sides!' So, destiny takes a little turn, it breaks the chain and then...you leave your family, and you venture out into this big, new world. Now, this is a very special world. It's got big dreams in it. You've had those dreams, right? You almost tasted the glory that awaits you. But it's never the right day, it's never the right moment, and it's never the right part. And then you realize that it's the punishment for all the bad things you did in your other life!" [looks hurtfully at Teresa, whose watching in shock] "We lived together. I was godfather to your son!"
Teresa: "Armand, I didn't want to hurt you."
Armand: "Well, this is a lie. You are all liars, and I, yeah, I am a fool because I am a traitor to my family. But I have learned my lesson very well. This son is going to return to his family with pride and verosity and the gesture that would make my father proud." [picks up the briefcase as everyone shifts nervously] "Hey, you! Would you sit down? I relish this moment because, in this moment, I reclaim my father's respect. And I make myself whole again in the eyes of God...and the Devil. And Dad, acapeta familia. May this fuse us in our ancestrial glory!" [starts to open the briefcase as everyone watches in horror] "Yeah, Dad, lets show them what they fear the most..."

Notes:
• Watch for unbilled cameos by Martin Scorsese, Bill Murray, Michael McKean, and Garry Marshall throughout the film.
• In real life, director Philip Frank Messina is good friends with Martin Scorsese and, as such, wrote a lot of the script around a dedication to his longtime friend's classic mob movies.
• David's mother has an unbilled part as none other than Armand's mother at his wedding at the end of the film. You'll notice the striking resemblance between the two when mother and son stand side-by-side.
• The headshot inside Armand's suitcase was an actual agency photograph David was using in the early 1990's.
• David and co-stars Garry Marshall and Adam Arkin previously co-starred together in A League of Their Own and Heat Wave.
• With Friends Like These...... won the Audience Choice Award (Cinequest San Jose Film Festival) and Film Discovery Jury Award (U.S. Comedy Arts Festival) of 1998. It was briefly re-released in theatres in NYC in 2005.

Critical Praise & Commentary:
• "It is good to see Robert Costanzo and David Strathairn in significant comedic roles..." -Jonathan W. Hickman, Entaintment Insiders

• "Then, in order to nail down the 'real' Sicilian side of the character, Johnny solicits some coaching from Armand (David Strathairn), whose mysterious background and self-sufficient means lead everyone in his circle to suspect that he's from an actual mob family; Armand's lesson in how to achieve the "dead eyes" of a true killer is a mini-classic... As men led astray by their own forms of self-delusional fantasies, Tenney and Arkin are fine, while Strathairn, not normally associated with the sort of hood roles in question here, reveals hitherto unseen aspects of his imposing repertoire." -Todd McCarthy, Variety