Allswell in New York looks in on the lives of an extended family as they deal with their problems and struggles and stick together through the hard times.

Allswell in New York caught my eye because it was produced, written, and performed by a group of people who had an idea and made it into a movie for themselves. Ben Snyder directed from a screenplay co-written by him with Elizabeth Rodriguez, Liza Colón-Zayas, and Daphne Rubin-Vega.

Elizabeth Rodriguez, Liza Colón-Zayas, and Daphne Rubin-Vega also played the main characters. Want to see a movie about a Hispanic family living life? They made it happen.

Here’s a quick rundown of the characters. None were fully developed, but each had their own story.

Daisy (Elizabeth Rodriguez) was divorced. She wanted a baby. IVF hadn’t worked so she found a pregnant woman named Nina (Mackenzie Lansing) on Craigslist. Nina said she would give Daisy her baby. There were so many red flags around this arrangement, but Daisy willfully ignored them all in her desperation to have a child.

Daisy ran a cafe/bar with Tim (Max Casella). The place was called Allswell. Bobby Cannavale played their bartender but he wasn’t around much.

Daisy’s sister Ida (Liza Colón-Zayas) was a nurse. She was the kind of person who took care of everyone. She lived with Ray (Michael Rispoli). She worked with Clint (J. Cameron Barnett), a gay man who kept stealing HIV and STD medications from the hospital to give to his broke friends.

Serene (Daphne Rubin-Vega) was Ida and Daisy’s sister-in-law. She had been married to Desmond (Felix Solis), their brother. Des had been a mostly absent father to their daughter Connie (Shyrley Rodriguez) who was now driving Serene to distraction with anger and rebellion.

Ida spotted Des in the hospital waiting room and tracked him down. He turned out to be very sick, so the family gathered round him while also helping Serene track down her missing daughter Connie. Connie was fine, but Des was not.

That’s the basics of the characters and the situations the story is built around. Each character has a lot going on and brought various grievances and hurts from their past with them into the current story. It was roughly outlined and minimalistic in terms of story but managed to be effective in the 95 minutes it had. The family came together when there was a need for love and support.

I wouldn’t call this one a masterpiece, but it was enjoyable and well done and a good watch without a single car chase or gun fight.

Allswell in New York is streaming on Prime Video.