sirenebern Avanti! is one of those romantic comedies that stands the test of time. Although the humor and romantic tension is very much of its time (early '70s), it still resonates with a cosmopolitan modern audience. I find this movie and its romantic set-up as delightful as its Ischia setting. Jack Lemmon is perfectly suited to his role as the uptight U.S. businessman dismayed by his situation and, especially, the charmingly corrupt and pleasure-first attitudes of the locals. You've seen him play this type of part before, but he does it effortlessly and is very funny. But Juliet Mills as Pamela made the movie for me. I think most female viewers of this movie, especially those of us past 40, will relate to her humorous attempts to deal with her weight and her desire to throw caution to the wind in the name of romance. I don't think she's ever been better than she was in this movie.

mainefred My favorite comedy. I must have seen it 10 times, laughing just as much each time. Billy Wilder at his best, aided by a wonderful cast of character actors, headed by the marvelous Clive Revill. Then there is the coroner, with his ever-ready official stamp, Bruno the valet, the restaurant head waiter, and the hilarious Trotta brothers - all set against beautiful Mediterranean scenery and gorgeous Neapolitan music. Who could ask for anything more? Juliet Mills is perfect in the female lead, and Jack Lemmon, while too edgy for my taste, is more than adequate. The movie gives you one great scene after another. If you've never seen it, I envy you. You will probably want to watch it again and again.

maync You can do that by simply not watching this atrocity. I said so over 10 years ago and I maintain the same line. You've got to be over 70 AND hate modern times to like this ancient concoction. I've seen Lemmon in memorable movies, but he ain't in this one. But then, any old movie has trouble keeping up with changing culture, I'll give you this. I admit, I saw Avanti, possibly when I was too young to make much sense of it. But it did cause me a few laughs. That I remember. Watching it now, I see myself sitting stony-faced, counting the minutes. What on earth was that all about!? I need to write ten lines but there's nothing to be said other than save yourself the expense, the time, the disappointment. If you have to see ancient movies, get yourself something substantial and let me know what that might be. Thank you. Go away, Avanti.

DavidL360 (1)The reviewer who titled his review in part "a morally suspect film" was right on target: the film gives tacit approval to cheating on a spouse, the latter who in the film, from snippets of phone conversations from Lemmon's end, seems to be a helpful, loyal wife. (2)No realistic motive underlies the romantic relationship of the two main characters. (3) The film assumes a woman would be happy to be alone 11 months of the year, all for the sake of one annual month with a married man, with no prospect of permanent union. (4)The film relies on cheap gags which in turn depend on totally suspending reality. Some examples: (a) at the time the movie was set in the early 1970s (by its own cultural and political references), passport control at Leonardo da Vinci did not stamp most foreign passports; (b) an American official addressing a corpse in a coffin, swearing it in for duty, is not at all credible; (c) who would believe that a man would calmly substitute the corpse of a stranger for his own father and fly that corpse to the U.S. for a large funeral, while consigning his father's corpse to an Italian cemetery with a headstone bearing a false name--all this, to keep his new-found lover happy? For those reviewers who raved about the musical theme: what theme? There was none. There were varying bits of Italian folk music. At the beginning of the film, in Rome and then in Ischia, I heard some bars which I believe came from the Neopolitan comedic folk piece "Io, Tua Madre e Te" repeated a few times, but that was it. It is no surprise that the play the movie was based on had a very short run on Broadway and that the movie version didn't make a splash. The ONLY realistic descriptions of the Italian mentality were the acceptance of marital infidelity, the tangled bureaucracy, and the willingness to use personal connections to help a friend or a friend or relative of a friend. Everything else supposedly typically Italian was a gross exaggeration. (For whatever it's worth, I have no Italian ancestry, but I lived and worked independently in Italy and have some understanding of a country with many mentalities, depending on the region and on the city and town. The only American film about Italy that I've seen that, to me, had any flavor of accuracy was "A Bell for Adano." All other American films set in Italy are fantasies. If one wants to see a film with some realistic depictions of segments of Italian society, one should see those that are those made by Italians. Not all Italian directors, of course - Cinecittà produces lots of bombs too.)