Amici miei

Ah well now I'm having fun! Reviewing AMICI MIEI is like diving into a tub of champagne after just getting drunk, there are so many things that come back to your memory and make you smile that it would be enough to list them. But I won't do this, I will instead say something more significant for us Italians, this film (and its trilogy) is and will always be the best comedy produced in Italy. Point! He expressed in the most true and realistic way a cross-section of the best way of experiencing friendship in the Sixties/Seventies, a true, sincere, inter-class friendship, I would dare say almost a brotherhood. There are truly irresistible, contagious hints of irony, which we would all have liked or tried to make fun of like Count Mascetti played by a splendid Ugo Tognazzi, or to pose as the professor. Sassaroli (Adolfo Celi), or why not fall in love like the architect Melandri (Gastone Moschin), manage a bar like Perozzi (Duillio Del Prete and Renzo Montagnani) and go on "escapes" like Perozzi (Philippe Noiret). How beautiful, what a pleasure, how many memories... a cult film, authentic inspiration for entire generations! Masterpiece by Mario Monicelli.

Italian comedy has never been as pure and simple as in Amici Miei. Many Italian comedic actors have taken inspiration from this gem. Unfortunately, this movie is not available to the greater audiences in the US. I saw this movie when it was released and many times after that. Grazie, Mario!

This film is a perfect example of the Commedia all'Italiana, one of the best films (if not the best) of this genre of which, I can say, it is the quintessence. Directed by Mario Monicelli, one of the best Italian director of that period, it had a huge box-office success. It's one of the most hilarious films I've ever watched.

Five middle aged friends enjoying life and having good time by making pranks, by making a mess out of the established society that, for them, is rather boring. But their behaviors show that something is not right with their life, since being in search of continuous fun is certainly a way to forget one's pain and problems. For this, aside from being funny, it is also bitter-sweet. For the quintet nothing is sacred, anything can be laughed at (also a funeral) and thus it is amorally enjoyable. In short, breaking moral rules with friends, making cruel jokes with them is a medicine against the pain of normal life. Memorable is the scene in which the five friends slap passengers of a train who have their head out of the windows as the train starts moving and thus cannot go down and react anymore.

Oh God,I am so lucky.I live in a small town in Greece and I have never heard of this film before.And it must be almost impossible to find it in DVD.

I accidentally read about this film on the TV program.It was the movie of the day and it is rated with the highest grade.So,I decided to stay awake(because the film started around midnight-like many other great films in Greek TV!)and watch that really great film.It was one of the best decisions I have made recently.

The film is about a company of middle-aged men.But they aren't typical 50-year-old men.These men don't care about right behavior,about what others say,about what the rules of society say.They decide to enjoy their lives,so they start making jokes to people and have real fun.They are like children that don't want to get older.

First of all,it's one of the best comedies I have ever seen.The scene with Toniatsi and the others slapping the passengers of the train,who have their heads out of the window is one of the funniest scenes ever made.But the greatest part of the movie is,in my opinion,when they pretend the gangsters to make fun of an old man.

But,apart from the funny scenes,this films has some things to teach us.It shows,first of all,what real friendship is.Secondly,it teaches us to enjoy our lives.These men have also problems in their lives,like other people.But they decided not to worry so much about them,and as result,they really LIVE THEIR LIVES.And I was really jealous of them,because that's the most important thing,but we often forget that.

To sum up,this film is hilarious,moving,sentimental,with really lovable characters and it has some important things to teach.What else do you want from a film?

Look. If you're not Italian, or at least you don't speak Italian and you see a translated version, probably you won't get it. I don't know how the various pranks like the "supercazzola" have been translated and how they sound like. Here they sound like pure genius. I know a lot of people, scattered through the nation, that just WORSHIP this film, probably thanks to the fact that this movie is quite an underdog, neither a mainstream film, nor an artistically praised "commedia all'italiana". But who cares about artistical merits. The characters and the situations are so lively like is rarely seen. The film is an humble tale about life, women, friendship and death, with five men using their wits to avoid the tragedies of their lives. It's a lesson about taking life with a light heart, even if things are terribly grim. I think that the final laugh means it's all about that.

PS Excuse me for the bad English. I'm Italian and i'm supposed to do a lot of errors!