Tre uomini e una gamba

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.

Aldo, Giacomo and Giovanni have to deliver an original Garpetz to a Maffia boss who is gonna be the father-in-law of one of the guys. A Garpetz? Garpetz is a famous sculptor...a VERY funny road movie with several intermezzi develops. At one time, Aldo, the Southern Italian, has a hilarious dream in which he is Dracula and the other guys are Northern Italian Leghisti (separatists). In the beginning, there is a meta-film in which Pulp Fiction is satirized. And there's also a love story in the mix: Giacomo falls in love with Chiara, who sees the Garpetz (it's a leg out of wood, the boss says: "My carpenter could've made it better!")and says: "Ma questo e' un Garpetz!" ("But this is a Garpetz!")The guys wonder: how did she find out? Until Giovanni comes up with the solution: "Se e' un Garpetz, e' una merda!" Don't miss this movie....neo-realism, too, is burlesqued in another meta-film....

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.

Being an italian, often very critical of italian cinema, I must admit that it annoys me to recognize that this movie is absolutely awesome. Each scene, even taken individually, is unforgettable. Despite its simplicity, it is always very intelligent and fun, and perfectly characterizes the best and the worst of Italianness. Even if it has his years now, it's always incredibly current and hilarious. I could be considered a heretic, but I think it is one of the most successful films of its kind, certainly one of the best of the last 30 years, if not always. Many Italians should see it again and again, maybe they will learn something eventually...

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.