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.

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.

From the beggining the movie takes a cooky turn with and "Italian" explanation of the JFK murder, follwed by humour that is fun, witty, and at times charming. Though I do not recommend this film to people who have not been exposed to italian culture, and speak the language, the film itslef is a breath of fresh air to come out of Italy.

I saw this movie by accident, the local news paper made a mistake in the listings but by the time my two mates and I had driven out, found a park and walked to the movie theatre we didn't want to turn around and go home without watching anything. Despite the fact that the three of us would struggle to turn up a single Italian word between us we all laughed ourselves silly through the subtitles and decided that this movie is an absolute ripsnorter of a film that any aspiring comedy writer can and should learn from.

The three (four with Mrs. Massironi) best actor-comedians in the Italian performing arts scene decided to make a movie. And it is a blessing. It is just as if you were at one of their live performances: exhilarating. It almost work as a movie (and not only as an excuse for the trio to perform), and the additional possibilities of the new media are used (along with their performance and excellent lines) to create more and more fun.