My Italian Cinema Junk Food
1) Checco Zalone may be a bonehead, but he’s not the “Dumb and Dumber” kind of bonehead. Checco is neither a complete waste of humanity or an unlikely saint in disguise. He’s just a guy. A politically incorrect, not very educated, small town guy who wants the best for himself and others. I know guys like that.
I insisted that some friends watch Che Bella Giornata with me and midway through I realized they weren’t watching the movie, they were watching me. I was giggling, snorting and choking on my popcorn and they were busy re-evaluating our friendship and planning their exit strategy.
No, they hated Checco (Snobs!), but I love him. He makes (a lot of really terrible) mistakes, but he learns from them.
2) Aldo Giovanni and Giacomo are pretty old school but I have watched Tu La Conosci Claudia, with Paola Cortellesi so many times I know all the lines.
What Giovanni, Paola’s (unlikely) husband lacks in the looks department he doesn’t make up with personality; he just wants to stay home and watch “Password” on TV and we’re not shocked to learn that Claudia is in therapy. When she decides that the key to her happiness is altruism, however misguided, Giovanni gets a wakeup call and decides to fight for his marriage.
Aldo meets his heroine from the GPS in a bar and I lose it every time I watch it, and when I’m in Milano, I break into hysterical laughter every time I cross “Corso Magenta, Angolo Carducci.” Just watch it; you’ll see.
3) Loving Paola Cortellesi may not be something to feel “guilty” about, but I’m pretty addicted to her movies, good and bad, because she’s always great even in the bad ones. If the critics didn’t like Un Boss in Salotto, I pity the uptight tools. If Italy has an official sweetheart, it’s Paola Cortellesi.
4) La Vita Che Vorrei was not a big hit in Italy and never made it to the US, so why do I love it so much?
Stefano and Laura are super flawed – if you knew them in real life you might hate them. Is Stefano a prick? He sure is. In one scene he sleeps with an old girlfriend (I believe it’s what you call a “booty call) to get even with Laura and the old girlfriend realizes what is going on. She asks him, “When’s my birthday? How many brothers do I have? Do you ever think about me?” It’s a defining moment for Stefano, but he’s honest with her. “No”, he tells her. “I never think of you at all.”
He’s wickedly judgemental and suspicious of Laura, but maybe he should be. Is she a whore? (figuratively if not literally) Yeah, I think she is. When she zeros in on Stefano in the beginning it’s like a cat with it’s prey in that it seems more instinctive than sinister. It’s what she does – she doesn’t know any other way.
They are superb, and very romantic in the oddest possible way. Don’t know what that says about me.
5) L’Uomo Perfetto is the perfect Rom-Com and I love a good Rom-Com. It stars Riccardo Scamarcio (who marches around in his underwear a lot,) Francesca Inaudi, Gabriella Pession, and Giampaolo Morelli, and it’s a stupid plot in the way that plots are stupid in many comedies but it’s got a lot that rings true.
Maria was that girlfriend in high school that everyone had – the one all the boys liked, and no guy you liked was safe around her. She’s the one that no matter where you went, how great you looked, or how much the guy seemed into you in Algebra class – he’d be making out with her by the end of the night. But Maria and Lucia had been best friends since childhood and really did love each other. They just had the one problem – Maria got engaged to the only man that Lucia ever loved.
“Scuuuuuuusa!” They are all adorable!
I Love Italian Everything 