Sballato, gasato, completamente fuso

And by that I am not talking about our journalist/main character - who is being seen and treated as a sex object by almost everyone she encounters. But it is a comedy so you may be able to suspend your disbelief ... if not, then you already will have a problem with the movie and its sexist agenda - as some likely will feel.

That aside (again, you have to suspend your disbelief and take into account when this played and the audience it was targeted at - mostly male and so forth), the comedian cab driver ... that is the one that should not quit his day job. Whatever it is - quite clearly it is neither being a cab driver nor a comedian. At least not for me - his sense of humor or rather lack thereof - you'll either find his rantings and nonsense amusing or you'll be as annoyed as I was ... it is really a wonder why our main character seems so drawn to him ... there is no logical explanation especially because she ditches him as often as she can ... not often and fast enough if you ask me.

There is nudity here, but the main attraction is the comedy or sketches that ensue by our main character trying to be a reporter ... this really is a patch work and you'll have to be in a certain mood to actually be able to enjoy it.

In a role that must have echoed her own feelings, Edwige Fenech plays a journalist for La Setimata who is tired of getting dumb assignment and being ogled by her male co-workers all the time. In order to prove her worth, Patricia (Fenech) bets her publisher Tozatti (Enrico Maria Salerno) that if she fails to deliver a quality article (about the sexual fantasies of the typical Italian male), she will go to bed with him. Talk about crazy feministic reasoning.

Except for this ludicrous set-up, `Sballato, Gasato, completamente Fuso' is actually a lot less crass than the usual ‘Insegnante' or ‘Soldatessa' stuff Fenech stars in. Whereas in those films Edwige would be mere window dressing despite playing the title character, this time around she actually gets to carry the whole picture. Of course she has to do another couple of fantasy strip-tease scenes, but even these are handled with some dignity, teasing the audience for the whole duration of the film, instead of taking it all off within the first 30 minutes.

While the love-hate relationship between Patricia and Tozatti is supposed to be the heart of the film, all her crazy assignments only lead to a bunch of unrelated sketches. Also begging for her attention is Diego Abatantuono as Ducho the cab driver, who launches into a stand up act each time he appears. A lot of scenes take place in his cab, and all of them feature terribly unconvincing back projection. When Edwige finally confesses her love for one of these two suitors, it feels a bit out of character. Unfortunately the film does not end there, but serves up more meaningless drivel (especially from Ducho) until we reach the 90 minute mark.

6 out of 10