Scusa ma ti chiamo amore

The Italians have a great reputation in the comedy department. I spend great part of the year in Italy and I've seen the work of Dino Risi, Pietro Germi and some other geniuses. This film doesn't belong to the same universe. Not for a long, long, long shot. Filmed indifferently, based on a popular teen age volume that one has to make an effort to imagine what the book was like. The film was directed by the author so I'm sure he was religiously faithful to the source. The dullness of this "romantic comedy" makes one wonder. The film is a top grossing box office champ in Italy. I keep wondering, why? There is nothing in it that would allure audiences anywhere. A 37 year old in a love relationship with a 17 year old. He looks over 37 and behaves like a teen ager. She looks older than 17 and behaves like a brat. What an unwholesome combination. He, Raoul Bova is in big star in his own country but his appeal eludes me completely. He is the most boring presence in the screen. So, the Los Angeles/Italia Festival at the Chinese Theater of Hollywood Boulevard started, as far as I'm concerned, with a dud of major proportions. Let's hope it improves.

I'm currently studying Italian and in yesterday's class we got to see a movie, an Italian one of course, for the very first time. The choice of my teacher was SCUSA MA TI CHIAMO AMORE, a completely unknown movie for me.

Remember when some years ago filmmaker Quentin Tarantino said that "new Italian cinema is just depressing"? Well, I can't say I'm with Quentin since I don't know much about new Italian cinema (or Italian cinema in general, but hey, at least I recently got the Fernando Di Leo crime collection on Blu-Ray!), but I simply recalled what he said because this movie made me think something like this: "having tons of great Italian films, what was my teacher thinking when she decided to go with this one?" It was Italian class and the whole point of watching a film was just to hear people speaking in Italian, so obviously we could have some truly great and interesting stuff. I remember that when both my sister and my cousin were studying Italian they said to me that a Roberto Benigni film (I think it was IL MOSTRO) was shown at a class. So instead of having some Benigni, we watched this modern romantic film; it might be modern since it's from 2008, but its storyline is just the f****** same thing we all have seen countless times before.

Criticizing a movie for its clichéd story is certainly a cliché itself, but I think it's necessary to point out how predictable SCUSA MA TI CHIAMO AMORE is. You are like 15 minutes into it and you just know each and every damn thing. It's also a cliché to say that this thing of having a tired storyline would really not matter if the movie gives you something else that's just great. As you can tell by my rating, with this there's nothing much that stand out. It tries to be funny, both in a straight and romantic way, but I didn't laugh nor find a memorable romantic side. It's simply ridiculous, with cheap stuff like having the two main characters meeting and getting along after being involved in a traffic collision. Or what about when the girl gets all of the sudden involved in the work issues of the guy (who is 20 years older than her)? It's soap opera stuff.

Also, there's a problem with the minor characters; for instance, when the happy ending of an apparent subplot comes, out of nowhere, to the screen I was just like "who are these characters? And why should I care about them?" For me this is weak writing, and editing too; the film is full of phrases about love (by people like William Shakespeare and Pablo Neruda) and sometimes we have them on the screen out of nowhere as well. In few words: when the only thing that interests you of an Italian movie is that it is spoken in Italian, something is very wrong.

*Watched it on March 24, 2012

I had a wonderful time watching this movie, although I can understand how other people, from a different age group or cultural background, could feel differently. I watched it on cable by pure accident, on a lazy Sunday morning, in bed, with my wife. We had never heard about it before.

Although the story is thin, it echoed on us. The culture, ambiance and events, although caricatured, had a lot to do with our lives and our friends' lives. There are obvious silly moments but the movie talked to us. We ended up teasing each other, making analogies with things in our past, remembering our moments and our friends.

All in all, it warmed our hearts and we had a great time watching it. Most other movies do not reward us in such a way.

BTW, Michela Quattrociocche (Niki), probably 18 when the movie was made, is delicious to look at and worth watching. According to my wife, the guy (Raoul Bova) is great too, and better looking than the girl. I disagree.

I wouldn't watch Scusa Ma Ti Chiamo Amore if you were looking for a profound, deep love story that makes you reflect more on the nature of love and relationships. Michela and Raoul are cute together, but the chemistry was lacking between them. Or perhaps it was the character Raoul played (Alex), who didn't seem very passionate towards her.

With that said though, I found it worthy to watch just for the pleasure of seeing gorgeous Raoul Bova. I discovered Scusa Ma Ti Chiamo Amore after developing an interest in him from Under the Tuscan Sun. I'll admit I'm a sucker for the stereotypical charming romantic Italian man that Raoul portrayed in that movie.

After watching Scusa, however, I felt he was so much better in that because the portrayal was more realistic -- he was more a regular endearing Italian, than the stereotypical one that you see in Hollywood-type movies that only focuses on the charming, flowery, romantic side. For that reason alone, I really liked and appreciated the movie.

I watched the film last night together with my 14 years old daughter and enjoyed it immensely. I know sometimes expectations are everything when forming an impression of a film (or book, etc.) and because I had read some negative reviews of the predictability and cliché-ness of the film, I did not expect unexpected endings and unusual and innovative developments and I got what I was looking for - a romance story with beautiful young people on bella Italia background. And I even got more - skillful acting and intelligent directing - the love quotes and the delicate depiction of the love scenes were the cherry on top of the ice-cream. So, if what you are looking for is a love story well told, you should find this film quite satisfying. I'm planning to watch the second part (Scusa ma ti voglio sposare) this evening and to check out more Raoul Bova films :)