O Monstro

Roberto Benigni's "The Monster" is a laugh-a-second romp that is truly reminiscent of the greater works of Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Peter Sellers. Benigni stars as a loser who works for a mannequin company who unwittingly becomes caught up with the authorities who believe that he is the titled character, a man who has been raping and murdering women all over the city. Naturally, Benigni is not the guy they are after but all the strange coincidences make him appear to be the criminal. Undercover beauty Nicoletta Braschi (Benigni's real-life wife) tries to trap Benigni by enticing him in the most creative ways. The film is great fun, but it is very adult-oriented with sexual situations and innuendos galore. Overall "The Monster" is a really great film and Benigni fans will love it more than most others. Plot resolution late hurts the film, but not enough to keep it from being very successful overall. 4 stars out of 5.

This is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Benigni is a genius when it comes to comedy, the modern Charlie Chaplain. After `Life is Beautiful', this is probably his best movie.

A sex-crazed serial killer is on the loose and has already killed a dozen women. When the goofy Loris (Benigni) is mistaken for the killer and the local police launch a 24-hour surveillance of his crazy life, the laughs begin and never end. Benigni's real-life wife, Nicoletta Braschi, also in `Life is Beautiful', stars in this one as well as a police officer who goes undercover to catch him in the act. She sublets (illegally) his apartment and movies in with him to try to entice him into his sexual psychosis. When normal life fails, she then must dance around the apartment naked shoving her genitalia right into his face.

It's a little on the edge, but in the tradition of Benigni comedy, is still quite tasteful. 17 and over only though. Sexually explicit scenes all over the place, but no nudity.

What an excellent movie 'Il Mostro' is! It is absolutely certain that it will destroy you from the first moment.

Make sure you watch it in Italian audio though. A lot of Benigni's (as of course any other actor's) performance comes out of projecting his lines and Benigni always sounds hilarious.

And don't expect to see 'scary movie' here. This is quality comedy, with great script and a genius actor.

Don't miss it!

9/10

What Einstein did for the world of science Benigni has done for the world of cinema.

Since being captivated and devastated (in a brilliantly sad way) by "La Vita e Bella", I've been eager to seek out other Benigni films. I was thrilled to find "Johnny Stecchino" and "Il Mostro" on the shelves of my local video store.

Both are works of comedic genius! While Benigni employs very similar formulas and plot devices (mistaken identity, physical humour and petty theft) the plots are vastly different but both equally hilarious. "Il Mostro", as well as "Johnny Stecchino" will have you laughing within a minute of pressing play on your VCR. Rent these both for a night of back to back gut-busting fun!

This is one of the funniest movies of all time. Roberto Benigni is the definitive next-generation Charlie Chaplain. His use of camera angles to get the dummies in compromising positions, depending on how it's seen, and the way he can include so many different characters so effectively in the movie is amazing. My favorite scene is when the Detective is analyzing Loris when Loris leaves the restaurant. "Now he is punishing it - 'No, not in public'" and "And we can all see what this means." If you want to see it, I've seen the film at Jumbo video in the foreign films section. I advise that you go out and rent it IMMEDIATELY! I gave it a ten, and so will you.