Totò, Fabrizi und die Jugend von heute

Carlo and Gabriella want to get married. They have to overcome not only the opposition from their parents to a marriage at their young age but most importantly the instant dislike that their fathers take to each other. The many scenes where Totò, as the wealthy pastry magnate father of the bride, argues with Fabrizi, the middle-class public servant father of the groom, about who is going to pay for what, are priceless. It's an old-fashioned comedy, very Italian and very funny.

This movie starts well with fun, romantic, and funny situations but before long turns into scene after scene of Totò and Fabrizio bickering. Totò and Fabrizio usually have great chemistry. In Cops and Robbers, their relationship is wonderfully complex regarding duty and compassion, in The Overtaxed, their relationship is much closer to this movie where they're at constant odds, but in this film that relationship just doesn't work. Maybe it's because in The Overtaxed Totò has a motivation to please Fabrizio. A similar motivation should also be at play in this movie, but unfortunately is not.

Christine Kaufmann is lovely and sweet as Totò's daughter. It's interesting that she appears in this movie with Totò (Antonio de Curtis) and that in real life she married Tony Curtis.

I turn this movie on every once in a while and watch the beginning but I turn it off before the bickering starts. In the beginning there's a scene with Totò and his daughter that I really enjoy when she tells him that she wants to get married.

Worth watching only as a curiosity or for just a few scenes.