The thing I like most about this movie is that its atypical. The characters are not all young, middle-class, white American men with the usual cookie-cutter workout bodies and pretty faces, who hang out in bars and gyms. I loved the ethnic twist, and the fact that the actors all looked like people who could be your next door neighbors. The script is funny and the actors play the characters well. The only reason I didn't give it a higher rating is because of the way the story transitioned into Nino and Angelo becoming lovers. Sure they were old friends, but Nino had ditched Angelo's friendship since they were young boys, and even then there was nothing even remotely more than platonic between them. The part of the plot where they suddenly hook up together as lovers and decide to move in together is not very believable, especially considering how much of a closet case Nino is.
Some people were dissatisfied with the ending, but I thought the ending was great. Angelo not only becomes a big success, he also hooks up with a much better guy than Nino in the end. Although the movie is about Angelo's life, it seems to me to be more of a character study of Nino---a man who's seriously repressed and in denial about himself. Perhaps its even a study of repression and denial in Italian culture on the whole, as Anna mentioned several times during the movie.
I didn't like Nino's character because I think he's a selfish jerk. He was only using Angelo for sex, and he was never really in love with Pina either. His only reason for pretending to fall in love with her and getting married was his fear of being publicly branded as a gay man. But, Pina is a selfish jerk, too. She wasn't in love with Nino either. as she boasted to her friend, her real reason for marrying him was because she prided herself for "converting" him. I'd say these two deserve each other. In Anna's flashback during her session with the psychiatrist she saw towards the end of the movie, Nino was seen half naked in the woods on a 'camping trip' walking with and hugging another half naked man. So even though his relationship with Angelo is over, his life as a man who secretly sleeps with other men isn't. There's also another deleted scene on the DVD that shows that Pina didn't really "convert" Nino at all, but I guess they edited that scene out of the movie because they felt that Nino's story had already been told---the not-so-happy bisexual husband who will forever be cheating on his wife with other men. I can't imagine why some of you feel that it would have been better for Nino and Angelo to end up back together. Nino doesn't deserve to have a cool guy like Angelo.
My favorite characters in the movie were Angelo's family---very, very funny. Nino's mom was wonderfully bitchy, too.
Some people were dissatisfied with the ending, but I thought the ending was great. Angelo not only becomes a big success, he also hooks up with a much better guy than Nino in the end. Although the movie is about Angelo's life, it seems to me to be more of a character study of Nino---a man who's seriously repressed and in denial about himself. Perhaps its even a study of repression and denial in Italian culture on the whole, as Anna mentioned several times during the movie.
I didn't like Nino's character because I think he's a selfish jerk. He was only using Angelo for sex, and he was never really in love with Pina either. His only reason for pretending to fall in love with her and getting married was his fear of being publicly branded as a gay man. But, Pina is a selfish jerk, too. She wasn't in love with Nino either. as she boasted to her friend, her real reason for marrying him was because she prided herself for "converting" him. I'd say these two deserve each other. In Anna's flashback during her session with the psychiatrist she saw towards the end of the movie, Nino was seen half naked in the woods on a 'camping trip' walking with and hugging another half naked man. So even though his relationship with Angelo is over, his life as a man who secretly sleeps with other men isn't. There's also another deleted scene on the DVD that shows that Pina didn't really "convert" Nino at all, but I guess they edited that scene out of the movie because they felt that Nino's story had already been told---the not-so-happy bisexual husband who will forever be cheating on his wife with other men. I can't imagine why some of you feel that it would have been better for Nino and Angelo to end up back together. Nino doesn't deserve to have a cool guy like Angelo.
My favorite characters in the movie were Angelo's family---very, very funny. Nino's mom was wonderfully bitchy, too.