PodBill Just what I expected

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

BelSports This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Zarko Zecevic When you think about Benigni, humor in all it's varieties and unbelievable situations are dominant motives. And again, his (Dante) partner is amazing actress and producer Nicoletta Braschi (Maria). In the movie, Dante starting as an ordinary, but a little bit strange guy. His accidental meeting with Maria change his life at all. He is going to visits her at Sicily, but doesn't know about her husband (Johnny Stechinno) who is targeted mafia boss. The biggest problem for him is amazing similarity with him (also stared by Benigni), but as a naive man Dante thinks that the biggest problem is about one stolen banana. Misunderstanding is key feature. Benigni acting is always amazing, maybe the same as combination of actors in old speechless movies (for example Charlie Chaplin in ''City Lights'') and Luis De Funes (in ''L'Avare'' for example). My big recommendation for all who prefer comic movies, Italian landscapes and of course - Benigni.

Jeremy lawrence Johnny Stecchino review by Jeremy LawrenceJohnny Stecchino is a delightfully funny piece of Italian film history, with flamboyant characters and American influences derived from such roots as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keatan and Woodie Allen. Although the jokes, for the most part are derived from Italian culture, their routes display common beliefs and experiences of all cultures. They play on the stereotypes of Italian culture perceived by the rest of the world. The main character Dante, played by Benigni, has a comedic and arrogant personality. He miraculously finds himself repeatedly in life threatening situations. However, he some how manages to get himself out unscathed, and due to his character the audience cannot help but laugh at his arrogance. This film displays master comedic work and the work of a brilliant framer using every inch of his presidium arch to set up and deliver the plethora of gags. Throughout the film each gag is set up primarily by setting a visual mood that allows the viewer to not only feel the joke at hand but also to live the joke. This allows the joke to run deeper into the viewer's knowledge and belief system. For instance, in the film Dante is preparing to snort a line of cocaine. Almost everyone on earth, who has watched films or television, knows what the white powder is and how the drug is used. In the stories, when Dante does not know what the powder is his uncle tells him that the powder is a drug to cure his diabetes. Through the film this knowledge is tested and the main character tries to pass the drug off as a cure for diabetes. Another of the new techniques used was that of editing as well as visuals to develop the 4 D's (Desire, Deception, Discovery, and destiny) of a traditional comedic structure to develop the comedic persona of all the gags and to tie all them together. In doing this Benigni used many traditional techniques of cross cutting and of cutting to show the action, not cutting to develop the act. Actually Benigni uses the long take, which, according to Charlie Chaplin are the way comedies are suppose to be shot, for example a shot that would normally be inter cut with close ups, such as the car in reverse gag. In the frame, Dante enters his bus and the audience is led to think that he will back up. As he turns to look at the camera in order to back up, the foliage can be scene through the window pressed closer to the camera. This makes it obvious that he is actually driving forward and not backing out and in the same shot Dante's expression draws us to his gaze without rack focusing (rabidly changing focus from one object to another). All of the visual and dialectical techniques demonstrate the comedic genius of Benigni. Although the jokes are not universal to all cultures, Benigni creates a mood of light comedy and intellectual triumph which in part explains the success of Johnny Stecchino.

michelerealini "Johnny Stecchino" (1991) is one of the funniest Benigni movies. Here the actor plays a double role.A naive and unaware school bus driver, who looks like a Mafioso, is invited to Sicily for a holiday. The plan is exploiting the physical likeness of the two for killing him, so the Mafioso could take advantage of the others believing him dead...The movie is a slapstick comedy, with a succession of misunderstandings and comical situations. The unaware man never understands he's dealing with Mafia, and reaches to put the organization through a crisis as well! The feature is a refined satire, the film is not vulgar at all. Roberto Benigni is so funny... His presence, the expressions of the face and of the eyes make him a new Charlie Chaplin.I suggest to see that movie in the original language version -possibly with subtitles for who doesn't understand Italian. With the original voices the film is definitely funnier.8,5/10

belfi Wonderful roles for Roberto Benigni and Nicoletta Braschi. I am not sure whether they got together before or after this film, but if they co-operate in their marriage as much as they do in this film, they will stay together forever. This movie is so extraordinary well written, although you must understand some of the Italian life and habits. The subtle humor will be mostly appreciated I guess by Italians who have moved abroad. They will recognize the bits and pieces that ridicule the 'ol'country', but they are no longer part of it. In a way. Insurance fraud, coke sniffing, corrupted politicians, bribed judges... The people that are best of are the ones that either don't know or don't want to know.