Tre uomini e una gamba

Nobody thought the first film of the three comedians could be so amusing and technically good. Nobody thought three comedians coming from TV can make film so well. In my opinion this film reaches peaks that remind Tarantino (!).

If we add to this that the humor of this trio is irresistible we have one of the greatest Italian films of '90s. I love it.

This movie was a hilarious movie if you understand the Italian language and culture! If you are merely watching it and relying on the subtitles you will not find it as funny since a lot is lost in the translation. I sat watching this movie with some friends and I was howling! They were sitting there just starring at me wondering what I found so funny. The difference between them and I....I understand the language and they don't! So if you have a friend that can translate it for you correctly then I say go for it, you will find that you will get some laughs in! The actors chosen to play each role were a good choice.....they all feed off of each other and this makes the movie even more better.

So if you have an understanding of the language then this is a funny movie to watch!

Aldo, Giacomo and Giovanni have to deliver an original Garpetz to a Maffia boss who is gonna be the father-in-law of one of the guys. A Garpetz? Garpetz is a famous sculptor...a VERY funny road movie with several intermezzi develops. At one time, Aldo, the Southern Italian, has a hilarious dream in which he is Dracula and the other guys are Northern Italian Leghisti (separatists). In the beginning, there is a meta-film in which Pulp Fiction is satirized. And there's also a love story in the mix: Giacomo falls in love with Chiara, who sees the Garpetz (it's a leg out of wood, the boss says: "My carpenter could've made it better!")and says: "Ma questo e' un Garpetz!" ("But this is a Garpetz!")The guys wonder: how did she find out? Until Giovanni comes up with the solution: "Se e' un Garpetz, e' una merda!" Don't miss this movie....neo-realism, too, is burlesqued in another meta-film....

Being an italian, often very critical of italian cinema, I must admit that it annoys me to recognize that this movie is absolutely awesome. Each scene, even taken individually, is unforgettable. Despite its simplicity, it is always very intelligent and fun, and perfectly characterizes the best and the worst of Italianness. Even if it has his years now, it's always incredibly current and hilarious. I could be considered a heretic, but I think it is one of the most successful films of its kind, certainly one of the best of the last 30 years, if not always. Many Italians should see it again and again, maybe they will learn something eventually...

As a recent Italian emigrant, I was able to fully enjoy this wonderful, sunny movie that has brought back to mind a lot of innuendos and down-to-earth jokes that, certainly, are not meant to be racist: quite the opposite, actually: every joke is firmly tongue-in-cheek.

The authors-actors also dare to play themselves, using their real names: this allows them to freely play with several styles of direction, always from their point of view, which somebody may define iconoclastic. The truth - in my personal opinion - is that they have full confidence in their own sense of humour and thus they have created a homage to more serious movie genres - from neorealism, to westerns, to 50's horror.

This is like Carl Barks when painting with oil: using a formal medium to portray less serious things.