The_Void My experience of Italian comedy before seeing this film extended only to the sex comedies featuring such beauties as Edwige Fenech and Barbara Bouchet, and although I enjoyed the humour in most of the ones I've seen; I have to admit that generally I enjoyed the films more because of the stars. My Friends is a straight Italian comedy and thus the reliance is on the jokes and situations more than sexy lead stars to sell it; and while I cant say that the film is laugh out loud funny (at least not to my tastes), this is a very good film and certainly one that will appeal to fans of Italian humour. The plot is fairly simple and, as the title suggests, basically just focuses on a group of four friends. They're all middle aged and have good professions (with one exception). They wander around town and get their kicks by pulling pranks and generally annoying people. The film features a number of plot threads; the first of which sees the gang land themselves in hospital and one of them ends up meeting the beautiful wife of the top surgeon.My Friends is something of a film of two halves and I have to say that I enjoyed the first half more. The tone is always light and breezy although the film does get a bit more ambitious and involving in the second half and that doesn't suit it as well. There doesn't really seem to be a defining point to it; the only one I could see really was the idea of the central characters being older men and still enjoying life. The lead characters are depicted as almost being like children and that's one of the film's biggest running jokes and seeing grown men mess around like the characters in this film has a sort of surreal humour of it's own. The film focuses more on situation than any actual gags and we do get some interesting and well worked scenes that are very funny; seeing a load of middle aged men slapping passengers on a train for example is fun to watch. I would imagine that most of this film's fans are native Italians and I can't see a film like this ever being a big hit outside of it's native country - but for fans of Italian movies, this comedy is a winner.

overfedcinemafan This is a terrific film and probably one of the sweetest, funniest comedies ever made. The fearsome foursome never miss an opportunity to make a total mess of established society, all in the name of a good time. Nothing is sacred and anyone can become an instant, impromptu victim or their pranks. The scene at the train station is by far my favourite, and just the thought of the old guys lining up to slap people straight in the face makes me want to laugh out loud. See this film wherever you can, it's heartwarming and hilarious.If only it were more accessible so that younger generations could enjoy this!

Joan Duarte Hello from Barcelona again This movie is very good. Actors play an excellent role. Ugo Tognazzi and Philippe Noiret are the best ones. Italian humor is present all the movie. I can't explain with the correct words how good is this movie. I have it in Catalan, my language. The 2nd part is very good but I think the best is the 1st one. Guido Necchi (played by Duilio del Prete) didn't act in the 2nd part. We have Renzo Montagnani who plays a good job but not better than Duilio del Prete. You can see Rambaldo Melandri (Gastone Moschin) in The godfather part 2. He is the old man dressed in white suit who Robert DeNiro shoot with a gun while there is the crowd in the street. Adolfo Celi does an excellent role too, very funny. Also in the 2n part. There is a 3rd part with Ugo Tognazzi, Renzo Montagnani, Adolfo Celi and Gastone Moschin. Philippe Noiret wasn't here (only in 1st and 2nd part). This 3rd part is not so good but it is interesting anyway. We can see Bernard Blier again, who did the role of Niccolo Righi in the first part, the old man who in the first moment believes sugar is drug... You can find the three parts in Internet, in Emule (look for Amici miei). The sound is Italian and very interesting. The 1st part longs around 20 minutes more than the first edition of the film, and shows very funny scenes with the 5 men and Niccolo Righi. There is a pack with the trilogy in DVD in Italy. And I think it should be a 4th disc with deleted scenes, interviews and more. But I think there were some problems and now it is hard to find it. Finally you can enjoy watching Ugo Tognazzi and Philippe Noiret together in the Marco Ferreri film La grande bouffe. I hope there is someday a DVD with English subtitles for all of you. Enjoy! Joan Barcelona

roberto dandi OK, again another Monicelli's masterpiece (based on an idea of the genius Pietro Germi). This movie talks about: friendship, comrade's, love, sex, loneliness, betrayal, fun, sadness, death, sons. In one sentence: it talks about life.There is a lot of FUN in this movie, as the main characters seem to never grow up, they just want to joke about everything, NOTHING is really THAT important or serious to be spared by jokes. The son of the journalist is more mature and serious than his father... remember that we are in 1975 and this is absolutely counter-intuitive!! in that period young people were fighting on the streets for freedom of thoughts, of sex, and for political reasons!! Well, in some ways young people during that period were more socially "committed" than their fathers who wanted to preserve the status quo. In this movie however the middle-aged characters make fun of the status quo: the broken noble betrays his wife for a teen-ager, the surgeon does not care to leave the hospital in troubles for joining his friends, the journalist does not understand his son and never tries to, the architect wants to conquer the heart of a married woman, etc... it's like: "OK, you youngsters do not care about the old moral rules? we, your fathers, too, even more than you..." It's also a sad movie, as this search for continuous fun is a sign that something is wrong in their lives. The architect leaves his new family to join the company for the joke at the train station, as he is fed up with all the problems a real and traditional family provide. Normality is boring and annoying. Fun comes from friends and from breaking the moral or society rules. It's better a good joke (even a cruel one) and have fun than keep a normal life-style and be bored (this is a philosophy that some Italians really have).There is plenty of UNpolitically correct situations... feminist people can be very nervous seeing this movie... remember that it's a movie that reflects a particular culture, the Tuscany of almost forty years ago (the movie is set in the 60's). But real love is not banned in this movie... it's just a cynic point of view (real love ends up eventually, when it becomes normal life). I have seen several times this movie and every time I enjoy it. Also the sequel is good, but the first is just incredible. Do not miss this movie. You'll have lots of laughs and an essay about certain Italian culture.