Tu la conosci Claudia?

I saw first three films with Aldo Giovanni & Giacomo, three actors I loved very much in their TV gags. In their films, by my opinion, they didn't succeed in making good plots (that is basic for a good film). After having missed their LA LEGGENDA DI AL, JOHN & JACK, I've come back to Aldo, Giovanni e Giacomo's movies and I'm very satisfied. TU LA CONOSCI CLAUDIA is perhaps their first real film, with a real story and many humorous scenes (some of them really amusing). I appreciate their effort in order make a film that wasn't only a sum of gags, but had an interesting plot. Perhaps the choice of leaving direction to Massimo Venier has been important in order to give more substance to plot and also for acting better. I think the film makes people's soul happy and I've come out from the cinema with a smile on my face.

Finally Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo has come back in Italy and they've written a very good comedy. I think this movie is the third in my chart (first "Three men and a leg", second "Ask me if I'm happy") because with their funny lines they make me laugh a lot. Aldo's character is simply comic: the taxi driver who knows all about Wagner, Magenta and others people, but who doesn't know where are this streets. How can you forget his visions? Giovanni's character is funny, too, especially his adversity against Giacomo. My favourite Giovanni's line is when he asks Giacomo which is his favourite movie and he says "Lars Von Trier" in a strange way. Giacomo's character is the most quiet and he falls in love with Giovanni's wife, Claudia. Claudia (played by Paola Cortellesi who plays a small role in "Ask me if I'm happy - she's Aldo's girlfriend) thinks that Giovanni betrays her. For the first time they aren't directors and let Venier directs a very funny movie.

Perhaps the next Christmas we'll see the sixth movie with Aldo, Giovanni and Giacomo. I hope.

The trio seems to have lost the verve and the comic vein of the first productions (Tre uomini e una gamba, Così è la vita, Chiedimi se sono felice). The movie seems to drag himself to an end that everyone sees clear since the beginning; besides, the comic gags of the trio sound like repetitive all along the movie, taking off the film also that little bit of unexpectedness and laughters that could give it some appeal towards the public. Also the characters look like they are fixed, fossilized; they don't absolutely change neither a bit all along their filmography, and this movie is the clear mark that a restyling is not only for Aldo, Giovanni & Giacomo a chance to renew themselves, but a real need to try to keep on that appeal that they have had in Italy since the 90s. Movie not to be seen, by my side.

These guys are getting deeper and deeper in their movies. Whoever is looking for the senseless fun of Tre Uomini e una Gamba or Cosi è la Vita will be disappointed. Sure, the gags are there, but there's also a movie, something that has kept reoccurring since Chiedimi se Sono Felice.

So this film has a plot, and a theme. Mid-life crisis, seen from different angles. Marriage crisis and other things that take the three on a journey, although short, to Claudia, the love interest. But are they really looking for Claudia or just something, a reason to live. The film is almost poetic and a lot more serious than the others.

But again, people that are looking for silly laughs should stay away. This film still gets laughs, but it's more a film than a succession of gags and comedy sketches. So, no prejudice is advised.