Federico Picchioni (Carlo Verdone) a successful businessman with a trophy wife, is suddenly and unexpectedly ruined by his company’s financial scandal. And that’s only the beginning of his problems.
His ex-wife dies, his twenty-something children plus a grandchild move in with him, and his current wife storms out, in a barrage of shouting and insults. Meanwhile he needs work, but now, the joblessness rate in Italy is not only something that affects young people, but him as well.
The kids, played by Tea Falco and Lorenzo Richelmy, are lazy and messy and though Dad kind of “owes them one” for not having been around much when they were little, you have to feel sorry for him, the fish out of water playing housekeeper.
What do you want first? The good news or the bad news?
The good news is the next door neighbor, Luisia played by Paola Cortellesi. Cortellesi plays Luisa, a “tagliatrice di teste, a hatchet lady who spends her days firing people for a living. Paola Cortellesi reminds me a little of Lucille Ball ( The I Love Lucy Lucy, NOT The Lucy Show Lucy). She beautiful, likeable, and seriously funny in every movie she’s ever in, even the bad ones.
The bad news: This is one of the bad movies.
I don’t know if he’s actually lost it or if he’s just become an anachronism in the funny business but Carlo Verdone flair for comedy is not as strong as it once was. I suspected it with his last one, Posti in Piedi in Paradiso (A Flat For Three), a popular film that I figured had just gone over my non-Italian head.
Verdone is at his best with a hint of slapstick, and fast-paced and spirited dialogue. He fails when he tries to think too deeply; his gloomy poet daughter with her “hipster” friends and his unappreciated musician son are boring, and frankly a little embarrassingly clichéd.
The relationship between his character and Cortellesi’s is cute and not so unbelievable, so I guess that should be considered good news, but a good movie shouldn’t make me wince, is all I’m saying. Comedies are supposed to make me happy, not feel uncomfortable.
Sotto Una Buona Stella is available on Italian DVD.
I Love Italian Everything 