Coincés!

I LOVE Italian comedy. Much funnier than most junk on American TV, where they say a lame joke, then there's a laugh track. Italian comedy moves at a much faster pace.

Is it stupid? Yes. Is it ridiculous? Yes. Is it far fetched? Yes. Will you laugh your butt off? Yes!!! A totally hilarious romp that will distract you from what's going on in the rest of the world.

The Italian comic duo of, Ficarra e Picone, take on the Mafia and everything that is so wrong with the Italian system, by poking fun at it and entertaining us along the way. They play bumbling Electronic Technicians who stumble upon a corpse, and from there their whole world falls apart, but in a comical way.

What Ficarra and Picone manage to do is reveal how insane and corrupt their country is. From the new-look Mafia who have to make ends meet by doing legit jobs, to the Church and their financial dealings (the monastery who don't hand out receipts for their purchased cookies), to lame news stories from the desperate media, and even throwing in cheesy TV Police thrillers that have burnt away our brain cells. The duo have fun and go to town on it, including the gender difference when committing infidelity!

It's a Sicilian farce, that only Sicilians will understand. But if you go in with the knowledge that all is not right in the sun burnt island, then you will enjoy the silly ride Ficarra and Picone have in store for you.

I watched this entire 2 season Sicilian comedy because 3 of my grandparents came to America from there and I very much enjoyed my visit to Sicily a few years ago - although I like one of the main characters can do without ricotta cheese! I also like hearing the Sicilian language which in this series is clear and well spoken. The plot of Incastrati (Framed) is quite intricate - never a dull moment. At first I was expecting a comedy in the American sense but soon decided the label "comedy" is meant in the Shakespearean way, i.e., "Framed" ("Incastrati") is not a tragedy - all's well that ends well. If you enjoyed the tv series "Monk" about an obsessive compulsive detective you might like Framed as well - a dedicated homicide detective (Agata, as in Agatha Christie perhaps?) searches for "the guy" while a meek bachelor and his feisty partner who run a small repair business together realize their romances keep going wrong. The twosome don't repair anything but they do keep their heads above water while surrounded by endlessly menacing trigger-happy Mafiosos. I was rather surprised about the plot with all its complexities but glad I watched to the end - a well-crafted mystery set in stunning locales.

This is a story about a couple of TV Repairmen, somewhat reminiscent of Laurel and Hardy, who accidentally get mixed up with the local mob and wind up smack in the middle between the mob family and the coppers. It's never not a comedy though, but still takes the plot seriously enough. So, no one turns into a horse (a L&H reference). However, there were a couple times I thought they went a bit too silly.

I'm not Italian, have never been to Sicily, and do not speak the language. I understood the jokes just fine, so not sure what the other reviewers were talking about.

The subs seemed accurate as the words matched the character's tone and body language.

Overall, this was an enjoyable watch. Now that I know this is a comedy duo, I plan to watch more of their work. A well-deserved 7* is my rating.