Enrico Vanzina Movies
- 2009
This sunny, slapstick-laden comedy from Carlo Vanzina interweaves five zany substories about a group of Italians vacationing on the Caribbean island of Antigua. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carlo Buccirosso, Enrico Bertolino, (more)
- 2000
In the third installment of the popular Vacanze di Natale series, comedians Christian De Sica and Massimo Boldi yuck it up with Australian model Megan Gale in the ski town of Cortina D'Ampezzo. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian de Sica, Massimo Boldi, (more)
- 1999
- NR
In this comedy about time travel and family misunderstandings, Paolo (Ricky Tognazzi) is not getting along with his son Marco (Gabriele Mainetti) and decides the boy needs to better understand his point of view. So the two jump back in time 30 years, where Marco can see for himself just what Paolo was going through as a teenager. Despite many misadventures, Marco gains a new respect for his father and the experience brings them closer together. Il Cielo In Una Stanza features an appropriate soundtrack loaded with Italian pop hits of the 1960s. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elio Germano, Gabriele Mainetti, (more)
- 1999
Popular Italian comedian Neri Parenti directs this sketch-based movie about Italy's famously obsessive soccer fans. In one segment, a doctor forbids his son to marry the daughter of a pilot because he supports a rival team. In another, a Milanese cabby installs a satellite dish in his taxi only to have it co-opted by pushy Roman fans. In yet another scene, a Neapolitan crook breaks into a house only to realize that it's the home of his favorite soccer star. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Massimo Boldi, Christian de Sica, (more)
- 1998
Christian De Sica co-scripted, directed and stars in this Italian satire about lower-class revenge at a snooty Roman rowing club. Ladies man Robert (De Sica) keeps his affairs secret from his wife Livia (Cinzia Mascoli), since her wealthy father is the source of his income. Unfortunately, Dolores (Beatriz Rico) can't keep mum, creating a cash-flow problem. Bank accounts determine the pecking order at the club, and members with wimpy wallets have go through such humiliations as auctioning away their furniture. With the club prez arrested for embezzlement, a waiter scoring with a top model, and the massage therapist winning the lottery, it becomes evident that the lower-class has the last laugh, perhaps explaining the popularity of this comedy in Italy. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian de Sica, Cinzia Mascoli, (more)
- 1997
When snooty Gueflo's blue-blooded mother finally dies, he is delighted. At last the family fortune and estate will belong to him. However, his joy is short-lived for he learns that his mother bore an illegitimate son to whom she has bequeathed half her wealth. The bastard son turns out to be a waiter living in southern Italy. Upon learning of his good-fortune, he and his pal head north to Florence to take up residence in his newfound family's posh estate. Gueflo does not welcome his half brother and the two engage in heated battles that only worsen when a beautiful and very single baroness gets involved. The relationship between the quasi-siblings abruptly changes when another family secret is revealed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1996
When the Berlin Wall came down, Polish peasant lass Eva wept with joy. Seven years later, the beauteous girl is living the high-life in Milan as a pricy call girl. One day, her innocent, but equally beautiful little sister Maria shows up for a surprise visit. She thinks Eva makes money as an interpreter. Unfortunately for Maria her surprise is spoiled because Eva has been missing for a while. Teaming up with the police, Maria begins a search that leads her to discover Eva's true profession. Desperate to locate her older sister, Marie masquerades as Eva. Featuring a cast comprised of international supermodels, this Italian thriller fits nicely into the "so-bad-it's-good" category of trashy films. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1996
This Italian comic fantasy about time travel begins with Ascanio (Christian de Sica), an Italian nobleman, and Walter (Massimo Boldi) a film executive, also Italian, on a deluxe tour of Universal Studios. They sit down side-by-side and are hooked into a virtual reality machine by its inventor, Professor Mortimer (Dean Jones). When something goes wrong, they find themselves hopping around in time, again and again narrowly escaping death. Their first travel takes them to prehistoric times. Then they find themselves in Renaissance Florence under the watchful eye of Lorenzo de Medici, who is highly amused by Ascanio's soccer moves. Narrowly escaping the Inquisition, they jump centuries in time to Venice in the time of Casanova, where their efforts at a romantic liaison with some of Casanova's women are thwarted. In one of the film's highlights, Ascanio jumps into his own past, and attempts to change his personal future. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1995
In this goofy Italian farce a group of Italian tourists head off for a Christmas vacation tour in the Caribbean and end up stranded on a desert isle. Among the castaways are a womanizing plastic surgeon, a homely spinster, her eccentric Neapolitan professor of a brother, a married pair of Roman laborers, and two seductive American models. Bawdy slapstick humor abounds as they attempt to survive in their tropical island nest. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
Some things never change as this Italian comedy which spoofs government corruption, sports, night clubs, and the Mafia, amply proves. It is set in Rome, circa 71 B.C. and features comic actor Leslie Nielsen as a character similar to those in his Naked Gun series. Just as magistrate Antonio Servilio is arriving in Rome filled with ambition. Whilst travelling via the Appian Way, his chariot is run into by the chariot of Cesare Atticus, a dishonest senator with a love of women. So begins the grudge between the two who with every meeting find reasons to despise each other further. Judge Servilio places Atticus under observation after he receives evidence and information from Atticus's former mistress of his dishonest dealings. To discredit the magistrate, Atticus enlists the help of right-winger Cinico who sets the judge up with a buxom beauty who involves him in an orgy. The publicly humiliated Servilio is banished to Sicily where he encounters the early Mafia. Eventually Servilio and Atticus join forces to expose Cinico, the real villain. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1995
The lives of four middle-aged gay men are chronicled in this bittersweet Italian drama. The men are the cynical Dado, who tries to come to grips with his expanding waistline, receding hairline and the thought of spending the rest of his life alone; the catty Tony, a shirt designer who is still too bonded in a complex relationship with his overbearing mother, Sandro, a film producer who only recently came out of the closet after years of feigning heterosexuality, and Vittorio, a heartbroken architect trying to cope with the fact that his beloved went out and married a woman. Their stories are told as brief vignettes and chronicle a six-month period. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1994
This Italian heist-comedy movie is a revision of Mario Monicelli's 1958 film Big Deal on Madonna Street. This version is set in modern Milan. TV technicians Fabio and Enzo have been unable to find decent jobs. They decide to crack a safe at a Tony Milan jewelry store instead. To help them they enlist a beautiful but unsophisticated young woman to get the layout of the store. To help them find underground access to the store, they get help from a sewage worker. Finally to disarm the store alarms, they find an obese trapeze artist. A clever hotelier is also involved. Will they succeed? ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudio Amendola, Monica Bellucci, (more)
- 1993
In this romantic fantasy, Liechtenhaus is one of those seldom-heard-of tiny European principalities. It is being ruled by Prince Max (David Warner), but the little country is nearly bankrupt. In fact, if he can't get an infusion of cash quickly, he may have to sell the royal palace to American developers as a casino complex. Fortunately, he's got a very pretty daughter, and the dowry he will get from marrying her off to the unappealing (but wealthy) heir to a similar nearby principality will more than get his tiny country in the clear. Unfortunately for him, his daughter, princess Sofia (Barbara Snellenburg), is adamant about refusing this arranged marriage, and prefers romance with a handsome but penniless windsurfing instructor (Raoul Bova) to saving her country. Nefarious schemes come forth and multiply, and when the princess is kidnapped, something must be done. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raoul Bova, David Warner, (more)
- 1989
Originally titled simply Decimo Clandestino, this Lina Wertmuller "miniature" began life as an Italian TV drama. Piera Degli Esposti plays the widowed, impoverished mother of a huge farm family. The woman moves her nine children to Bologna, where their living conditions are deplorable. To avoid a hike in rent, she tells her landlady (Dominique Sanda) that she is living alone. Also known as To Save Nine (a curiously brief English-language title for a Wertmuller film!), IL Decimo Clandestino was expanded from 60 to 90 minutes for its theatrical release. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Dominique Sanda, Hartmut Becker, (more)
- 1988
A group of characters come in and out of each other's lives in this Italian sex comedy. Nagra (Giuliana De Sio) is an ambitious journalist who is not opposed to sleeping her way to the top. Brunetta (Kate Capshaw) is victimized by her lover Lionel (Michele Placido) when he dumps her for young swimming teacher Marina (Carolina Rosi). Brunetta later watches in disgust when Lionel picks up Nagra. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Giuliana de Sio, Michele Placido, (more)
In this lusty romantic adventure, a young wanderer returns to his Venice home and discovers that his wealthy father has squandered the family fortune on gambling and is deeply indebted to a cruel countess from Germany. When she sees the young man, she decides she wants him and decides to make one final wager with his father with the young man as the stakes. The father is unable to resist and promptly loses, causing the hapless lad to flee the terrifying Teutonic tart and take up with a beautiful runaway. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Matthew Modine, Jennifer Beals, (more)
- 1987
This comedy connects three unrelated stories of gamblers as they seek their fortunes in the casinos of Monte Carlo. When Furio (Christian De Sica) wins big but has his money stolen, he is forced to spend the night with an unappealing millionairess. Gino (Massimo Boldi) and his brother are fleeced by the fortune-hunting female Silvia (Florence Guerin). Oscar (Ezio Greggio) is a predatory gambler who find himself devoured by a French card shark. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian de Sica, Massimo Boldi, (more)
- 1987
Margherita (Carol Alt) is a wife and mother who decides to take a job as a fashion-show coordinator in this romantic drama. She discovers the tawdry truth of the inner workings of the Milan fashion industry and falls for the Italian heel Roberto (Fabrizio Bentivoglio), a move that nearly destroys her marriage. Renee Simonsen and Luca Barbareschi co-star with Marissa Berenson and Valentina Cortese in this vehicle that features beautiful fashion models in chic designer clothes. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Renee Simonsen, Carol Alt, (more)
- 1987
- R
Carol Ault and Elliott Gould co-star with Jean Rochefort and Pierre Cosso in this softcore erotic drama. Marina (Ault) is a young woman from a wealthy family who graduates from affairs with her maid and a young count to favoring the brutish attention of domineering men. Although she is portrayed as an amoral heroine with liberal attitudes, Marina inexplicably does not seek an end to her degrading humiliation and abuse. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Carol Alt, Elliott Gould, (more)
- 1986
This comedy-drama explores the sexual misadventures of a variety of suburban dwellers, including a few straying husbands and wives, and some non-husbands and non-wives too. After Sandro (Christian De Sica) and Lorenzo (Massimo Boldi) pack their wives and kids off for a brief vacation, the two men decide to look for some close encounters of the sexual kind. Sandro goes on several dates while Lorenzo takes up with his less-than-stable secretary, which proves to be a big mistake. Meanwhile, Gianluca (Jerry Cala) is an ambitious advertising executive who has little knack for communicating with the woman he loves. Finally, a car salesman (Enzo Greggio) chases anyone in skirts, full throttle, but gets a surprise in a few instances. None of these stories tends to overlap with the others. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jerry Calà, Christian de Sica, (more)
- 1986
This is a specialized, standard teen comedy set in a fast-food joint in Milano, featuring a series of skits and characters. The manager of the burger place loses his ethnic cooks and decides to make do with his brother-in-law and the restroom attendant. How difficult can it be to flip hamburgers? Meanwhile the customers and the neighborhood have their own stories to tell: two gangs fight it out, a waitress has a few adventures with the man she marries, and a delivery boy is mistaken for a professional photographer and joyously snaps shots of gorgeous models. None of the stories are particularly relevant to each other but they are energetic and upbeat. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- I Trettre, Enzo Braschi, (more)
- 1985
- R
In this pretentious erotic thriller an American forest ranger heads for Rome to search for his sister, a model who has mysteriously disappeared and later turns up murdered with a pair of scissors. The police know it is the work of a serial killer, but they have few leads. The young brother begins his own investigation and slowly solves the murder. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Schanley, Renee Simonsen, (more)
