Paolo Villaggio Movies

Two men with virtually nothing in common strike up the closest of friendships but must deal with the impending shadow of mortality, in this gentle comedy-drama from cause-célèbre Italian director Francesca Archibugi. Successful screenwriter Alberto (Antonio Albanese) checks himself into the hospital complaining of chest pains; meanwhile, affluent garage owner Angelo (Kim Rossi Stuart suffers from a massive heart attack and winds up in the same room next to Alberto, where he makes a series of courageous but unsuccessful attempts to rebound and feels his condition deteriorating. In-between Alberto's visitations from various movie industry friends (established via a series of cameos) and Angelo's chats with pregnant wife Rossana (Micaela Ramazzotti), the patients become acquainted, and before long they mutually regress to goofy, teenage behavior and begin swapping confidences. Angelo develops a deep-seated level of respect and admiration for Alberto - enough that he begins to perceive the writer as someone who can provide for Rosanna and the kids after his own death - and Alberto, who has seldom been close to anyone, develops a real sense of what friendship means for the first time in his life. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

In this bizarre and darkly comic fantasy, Antonio (Sergio Rubini) is a man who was born with unusually large incisors; his freakishly huge teeth make him an outcast from his peers as a child, and he attempts more than once to break off the offending choppers. The emotionally fragile Antonio was further devastated at the age of 12 when his mother (Anouk Grinberg) died, and as a man, he's become obsessive and controlling in his relationships with women. Antonio is convinced that his girlfriend Mara (Anita Caprioli) has been unfaithful to him -- with her dentist (Tom Novembre), of course. After Antonio confronts Mara in a moment of anger, she responds with rage, and strikes him in the face with a large ashtray, breaking off one of his teeth. Antonio now must travel across the land, going from dentist to dentist in search of someone who can make a crown that will suit his extra-large smile. Denti was shown in competition at the 2000 Venice Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A young boy and an old man team up to free a giant white dolphin from the swimming pool of a ruthless, one-legged millionaire Marcov in this upbeat Italian children's movie. Mischievous Snowball (the dolphin) gets into trouble when escapes into the beautiful Greek sea and playfully ends up swallowing the record of pension payments owed to Billy Bolla, an aged cruise ship entertainer. If the performer cannot quickly catch Snowball and induce him to produce the papers, he will have no retirement. He encounters ingenious Theo, the son of Marcov's maid. Theo adores Snowball and wants to free him. He befriends Billy and together they devise a clever plan involving a bus filled with water. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This Italian comedy, set in WW II, follows the road trip of a troupe of traveling boxers upon the roads of Tuscany. The story begins in August 1944 after Italy has been freed by the Allies. Dieci is a boxer living in Florence. He got his name (which means "Ten") because of his proclivity for being easily knocked out. Conditions in Florence are hard; Dieci decides to put together a travelling troupe to help make some money, and find food. Unfortunately no one in his troupe is a boxer. Followed by a lost dog, the group sets off in a broken down, brakeless bus. They are joined by an African-American army deserter and a Shaved Head woman who lost her hair after being caught consorting with a German. They are finally joined by Wilma who seeks revenge upon the partisan who did her wrong. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ugo Fantozzi (Paolo Villagio) is a retired accountant who is stunningly ugly, and his ability to suffer having even the most innocent situations turn into unqualified disasters has made his name an Italian byword for a really luckless sad-sack. This is the seventh of the popular comedies depicting his adventures, and by rights should be the last. In it, he goes on a skiing weekend and finally gets his mitts on Signorina Silvani, the hard-bitten but sexy woman who tantalized him all during his working life. The story continues, showing the demise of his fellow office workers and then his own, but when he winds up in a Buddhist heaven instead of a Catholic one (typical sour luck, that) it begins to look as though he might get more chances to go through the whole darn thing again and again... ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In this comedy/fantasy, two characters (popular comedians Paolo Villaggio and Renato Pozzetto) whose only life up until now has been as advertising figures in a billboard come to life when it looks as though their billboard is going to be papered over. They come down off the scaffolding and begin to wreak havoc in modern-day Rome, at one time impersonating ambulance drivers, and on another, impersonating store detectives investigating a crime at the Berlusconi's Standa chain of department stores. Filled with broad, slapstick humor and ancient jokes, this romp was quite popular in its native Italy. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The ever-hapless Fantozzi (Paolo Villagio) is back, in this comic installment chronicling the adventures of a man whose name has become a by-word in the Italian language for a sad-sack loser. In this story, he is still at work in the large company he will later retire from. In a speech in front of all the employees of the company, the president refers to him as a perfect example of a failure. Even Fantozzi cannot take such an insult lying down, and he takes steps to prove he is a worthy, capable person -- with predictable results. Acting as an agent for his marvelously ugly daughter, he gets her a leading role in a film. However, his wife learns that she is to play an ape-woman (without makeup!) in The Planet of the Apes and urges him to show some pride in his family and take her out of the film. Later, he gets assigned to be a member of the jury in an anti-Mafia trial, and he vows that he will never allow himself to be bribed like all the others... ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

For well over twenty years at the time of this film's release in 1988, the adventures of the hapless innocent Ugo Fantozzi (Paolo Villagio) have amused Italian audiences. In this latest installment of the Fantozzi series, he's about to retire from his job working in the hellish basement of a mortuary company. At a retirement ceremony he receives the obligatory gold watch, which, with his usual luck, has his name misspelled in the engraving. Energetic and capable of getting into more trouble in a few minutes than most of us manage in a whole lifetime, retirement is a daunting prospect for him. It proves to be an even more odious challenge to his wife Pina (Milena Vukotic), who soon takes a second job in order to pay her boss to hire Fantozzi for a make-believe job just to get him out of the house. When this fails, even more desperate measures are called for. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The bumbling thieves Egisto (Massimo Boldi) and Dalmazio (Paolo Villaggio), from the 1986 Italian hit comedy Scuola di Ladri, are fresh out of prison (and an insane asylum) in Part II, and they soon find one another and team up with their infinitely more capable uncle (Enrico Mario Salerno) and the supposed daughter of their deceased partner, Susanna -- a sly wench if ever there was one. Together, they attempt and even succeed at a series of daring robberies, thanks more to their persistence than to any skill on their part. As a foursome, much of the comedy in the story centers on their unavailing attempts to outwit and swindle one another. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

The Fantozzi character was created by Paolo Villaggio, based on stories he had written, and first appeared onscreen in 1975. Between then and 1987, six films featuring this hapless and much put-upon sad-sack man were made, and their great popularity was such that they continued to be made for years after that. By the time this film was made, the very word "Fantozzi" conjured up visions of a loser of epic proportions for almost any Italian. Thus, it seems only natural that this film explores all the Fantozzis of human history, beginning in the Garden of Eden. Even there, in paradise, he is the low man on the ladder of creation and is married to his shrewish wife Pina and suffers from having to look at his magnificently ugly daughter, Mariangela. God, it seems, was only practicing when he made Fantozzi and his family; Adam and Eve were his finished products. Since that time, Fantozzi families have appeared in every era, and in every era they have had a difficult time of it, as this comedy shows. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide