Diego Abatantuono Movies

Mario (Diego Abatantuono) is a gentle soul living in a big Italian city. He works as a bank teller. When his bank is robbed for the umpteenth time, and he sees yet another policeman killed, he throws in the towel on city life, and attempts to get away from it all by fleeing to a small town in Mexico. In this comedy, instead of getting away from the complications of big city life by moving to a backwater, he finds himself even more deeply embroiled in them. Things come to a head when he cop-killer he saw in Italy also winds up in Mexico. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

In the 1950s, a big stir was made by a book (and its corresponding movie) called The Ugly American. Its subject was the grievous damage done to local cultures by well-meaning but essentially clueless (and frequently arrogant) representatives of the U.S. Since then, the phenomenon of cultural damage cause by arrogant tourists and visitors has been demonstrated to be something everyone is capable of. In this thoughtful, comic drama, the subject is Italians overseas. In this film, Malindi Kenya is the playground of rich Italians. In this story, Alessandro Benini (Corso Salani) has come to this resort in the African nation to claim an inheritance from his father, a man he barely knew. When he arrives on the scene, he is shocked to be put immediately under arrest; rather than leaving him property as he had supposed, his father left him a mountain of local debts. He is taken under the wing of Fulvio Colombo (Diego Abatantuono), a man with shady local connections and an even shadier past. Along the way, Alessandro learns a thing or two about violence, colonialism, and nature, before he safely returns home to Italy. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Dario (Diego Abatantuono) is a lively, loyal friend, and a good trouper who can recover cheerfully from even the worst onstage disasters. He needs to be, because he is constantly onstage with his best friend Federico (Fabrizio Bentivoglio), who is a barely adequate actor. In everyday life, Federico somewhat timid and unassertive. It's too bad that Dario is having an affair with Federico's wife, but in every other regard, Dario works hard to look after his friend while they are on tour together, playing shows in one small town after another. When Federico discovers the ruse, at first he is hurt, but in the end, both men have become disgusted with Federico's wife's inability to choose between them. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

When Teresa (Cristina Marsillach), an old school chum from ten years before, shows up at his house, Marco (Fabrizio Bentivoglio) lets her in. She wants him to help her get hold of $20,000 to pay off a Moroccan judge to get her boyfriend Rudy (another old school chum) out of jail. Somehow, this story plays on his heartstrings, and instead of kicking her out, he contacts other old chums from the period. The whole gang reunites with Teresa and Marco, at first revealing, then shedding their grown-up identities. After raising the money, they all travel to Morocco to spring their comrade. Along the way, they smoke a lot of dope and relive old times. When Teresa apparently runs off with the money (and Rudy), they get hold of some bicycles and try and track them down. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Dario (Diego Abantantuono) is a psychologist who is in no hurry to marry his schoolteacher paramour Maria (Lina Sastri) in this romantic comedy. He meets an old friend who married Dario's former sweetheart Anna (Monica Guerritore), and with a picture of his wife and mistress in his hand, the man drops dead. Dario breaks the news to both women, who cling to him in their grief. He ends up in bed with the unbalanced patient Silvia (Domiziana Giordana) before a friendship with the two women turns into a sexual liaison. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Like many uninsightful fathers, Nicola is very ambitious and hardworking and perceives himself to be a failure. He has persuaded himself that the only good thing his thirteen-year-old son can possibly do is to work harder and smarter than he himself did, so that he, at least, can fulfill his father's dreams. This end justifies any number of beatings and scoldings, along with constant admonitions to study hard and work hard. As might be expected, this abuse has no effect whatsoever, as it is not based on the boy's own ambitions, which include becoming a championship runner. Despite his mother's attempts to protect him from his aggressively insensitive and stupid father, he gets shipped off to work with some rope manufacturers, who can be counted on to work him like a dog. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

This take-off on the soccer mania that is a part of Italian life centers on the comic presence of its star Diego Abatantuono who plays three different lead roles in the three "acts" that make up the film. In the first story, Donato (Abatantuono) is an out-of-work southerner trying to find his way in the north when he gets into disagreements with a bunch of soccer fans that are against his own, native team. In the next skit, Franco Abatantuono deserts his family, his home, his wife -- everyone -- when he finds out he has won the soccer lottery (he guessed the winning team), and he goes to celebrate at the most expensive hotel he can find. His celebrations are cut short, however, when his friends show up with some unexpected news. In the last story, Abatantuono plays Tirzan, a truck driver who borrows a truck from a friend to be able to get to a big match in Belgium, and then his borrowed truck is stolen in Paris -- should he try to make the match anyway? With Abatantuono's natural ability to chew up northern Italian with a southern dialect, the comic characters take on additional comedic dimensions. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

The dialogue and content in this film about gangs and their internal turmoil are geared to a young, teenage audience. The setting is Milan, and four brothers from the south of Italy have lined up against the local gang. The southerners are headed by Felice (Diego Abatantuono), the eldest of the brothers, a braggadocio who is overly-protective of his younger sister Giulietta (Simona Mariani) -- but then he has to be, since the brothers and one sister have no father to care for them. Of course, Giulietta has a mind of her own and when she meets the leader of the rival gang, romantic sparks fly. Felice will have none of this heresy, and so a battle of wills begins between brother and sister that may resolve more than just her love life. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi

In this light comedy based on a play by Aldo de Benedetti from the 1950s, Princess Lucia (Monica Vitti) is miffed that her husband, Prince Giulio (Philippe Leroy is single-mindedly focused on his race horses to the point that he is ignoring her. She decides to find out if he really does love her by convincing her bodyguard to pose as her lover - if her husband gets jealous, then he must care a little anyway. This seems like a fine plan until her bodyguard's girlfriend shows up unexpectedly, creating a few tight situations. Prince Giulio finally sees green through his equine-induced haze, and now all the Princess has to do is straighten out any misunderstandings. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi