User Reviews

The movie is built around Loris, the character played by Roberto Benigni. who delivers his best performance. He is 100% believable in this role. The movie has almost all classic ingredients of a great comedy and they work.

Roberto Benigni's character captures that facet of most of us men at some point in our lives. A lazy and not so well organized guy, far from hansom looking, who'd like to have a lot of women and money, but is not yet successful with either, improvising plans and schemes to get them fast and easy, getting himself in trouble instead, and plunging into more trouble the more he tries to sort things out.

Eventually the police is after him (the police surveying tape is hilarious), and as goofy as Benigni's character is, the police match him with style. They dispatch a bait to unleash the monster within, and Loris has to go great lengths to avoid unleashing that monster =))

Watch this movie in Italian with subtitles, don't let some lousy dubbing spoil your experience.

After seeing the trailer for this film, in France and in French, I thought that it should be given a wide berth. But I watched it with a friend one night and still laugh about it 10 years later. It was brilliant. Absolute pure genius. While the scenes looked ridiculous in the trailer, they were very funny in the context of the film. The story is simple, innocent bumbler is mistaken for a serial killer, but the talent of Benigni, both in his writing and his acting, makes the error plausible and for a great film. The scene on the scaffolding is one of my all time favorite comedy moments and the several unexpected meetings with a neighbour, whilst Benigni is walking along on his haunches (trying to avoid his caretaker as he is behind in his rent)are both funny and very touching, especially when Nicoletta Braschi comes on the scene. Just watch it and enjoy. But only if it's in it's original version, Italian. Otherwise don't!

What Einstein did for the world of science Benigni has done for the world of cinema.

Since being captivated and devastated (in a brilliantly sad way) by "La Vita e Bella", I've been eager to seek out other Benigni films. I was thrilled to find "Johnny Stecchino" and "Il Mostro" on the shelves of my local video store.

Both are works of comedic genius! While Benigni employs very similar formulas and plot devices (mistaken identity, physical humour and petty theft) the plots are vastly different but both equally hilarious. "Il Mostro", as well as "Johnny Stecchino" will have you laughing within a minute of pressing play on your VCR. Rent these both for a night of back to back gut-busting fun!

Roberto Benigni's "The Monster" is a laugh-a-second romp that is truly reminiscent of the greater works of Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Peter Sellers. Benigni stars as a loser who works for a mannequin company who unwittingly becomes caught up with the authorities who believe that he is the titled character, a man who has been raping and murdering women all over the city. Naturally, Benigni is not the guy they are after but all the strange coincidences make him appear to be the criminal. Undercover beauty Nicoletta Braschi (Benigni's real-life wife) tries to trap Benigni by enticing him in the most creative ways. The film is great fun, but it is very adult-oriented with sexual situations and innuendos galore. Overall "The Monster" is a really great film and Benigni fans will love it more than most others. Plot resolution late hurts the film, but not enough to keep it from being very successful overall. 4 stars out of 5.

Before ascending to his insurmountable zenith with LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL (1997, 8/10), Roberto Benigni's THE MONSTER is a winsome farce about an innocent layabout Loris (Benigni) is wrongly identified as a serial women-slaughterer at large, in order to catch him red-handed, the police force assigns a young policewoman Jessica (Braschi) to go to great lengths to entice him into the irrepressible perpetration (ultimately, a red riding hood costume), therefore, a spate of funny sketches ensure while Loris' resistance is ultra-impenetrable.

Benigni is a superb comedian, a do-it-himself practitioner, skilfully concocts lewd yet never graphically offensive sex-related slapstick in this larger-than-life scenario, individually, each skit is authentically rib-tickling, the opening one which causes the false impression for the entire film, is that Loris confuses a middle-age woman Claudia (Pieri Palombi) for a nymphomaniac, and predictably his overt seduction turns into sexual harassment. It is funny no doubt, but a bit too cheesy to be taken seriously since each laughter is arbitrarily calculated, easily anticipated, and provoked by mere happenstance - this is the key tone of the film, all the antics are in your face, but you cannot complain too much since they are well-crafted.

However, the wholesomeness of the story fail to survive under the barrage of giggling-inducing escapades, there is no credible rationality in finding the whodunit, the chemistry between Loris and Jessica never reach its threshold of romance, but the husband-wife team makes it up by the synchronous walking-like-midgets loveliness, witnessed by a distinguished resident (Girotti) every time. Rest of the cast is uniformly one-dimensional yet fundamentally enjoyable, Michel Blanc is hysterical as the doctor who is determined to diagnose Loris in person, the segment where he and his pills-chomping wife Joland (Lavanant) visit Loris and Jessica for dinner is the high-water mark for paranoid ridicule. Jean-Claude Brialy is the testy proprietor, Ivano Marescotti is Loris' sole business supplier, Laurent Spielvogel is the livid police chief and Franco Mescolini is his amiable Chinese teacher, perhaps one of them is the culprit?

The exaggeration of physical gestures and the Italian style of uninterrupted monologue may not be appealing to all its audience over the world, some minor goofs (e.g. the stalking video camera is ludicrous enough to only capture Loris' escape route while completely oblivious of the chaser, the antique dealer) are to some extent detrimental to the core of the story.

On the other hand, one should not nitpick a feel-good comedy, which is the most demanding genre for filmmakers because every culture has its unique language of humor, a true universally appreciated one is like a needle in s haystack, and THE MONSTER is almost there, it is among the very rarefied above-average hierarchy to say the very least.

What an excellent movie 'Il Mostro' is! It is absolutely certain that it will destroy you from the first moment.

Make sure you watch it in Italian audio though. A lot of Benigni's (as of course any other actor's) performance comes out of projecting his lines and Benigni always sounds hilarious.

And don't expect to see 'scary movie' here. This is quality comedy, with great script and a genius actor.

Don't miss it!

9/10

Roberto Benigni is a gifted physical comedian, but his pre-Oscar "Il Mostro" is best seen with an audience; the laughter helps cover up the dead spots. If you see it home alone, you can still get laughs out of some cleverly constructed gags, but the flatness of Benigni's direction cannot be ignored. (**1/2)

I was told by my Doctor to laugh a lot as it will help me improve my situation. Well, after watching Robert Benigni in the Movie" Il Mostro," I could not Stop laughing. I have seen it more than 6 times, and each time is like watching it for the first time. Wonderful prescription for anyone needing to laugh a lot. I intend to buy the film soon, for it is my prescription for good health. In fact i plan on watching it again with my family very soon. The acting by all in the Movie was done very professionally. The scenes, in itself was very good. I especially enjoyed the scene on the scaffold and the one where everyone was chasing him down the street.

I checked out IL MOSTRO on video after seeing LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL in theatres. Basically, it's the same kind of schtick. Very Chaplinesque, sometimes funny, sometimes not. Would be great for kids, except for the sexual situations (Begnini is mistaken for a rapist/murderer).

But IL MOSTRO lacks any sense of profundity that you might find in LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. It's more of a funny fluff piece.

This is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Benigni is a genius when it comes to comedy, the modern Charlie Chaplain. After `Life is Beautiful', this is probably his best movie.

A sex-crazed serial killer is on the loose and has already killed a dozen women. When the goofy Loris (Benigni) is mistaken for the killer and the local police launch a 24-hour surveillance of his crazy life, the laughs begin and never end. Benigni's real-life wife, Nicoletta Braschi, also in `Life is Beautiful', stars in this one as well as a police officer who goes undercover to catch him in the act. She sublets (illegally) his apartment and movies in with him to try to entice him into his sexual psychosis. When normal life fails, she then must dance around the apartment naked shoving her genitalia right into his face.

It's a little on the edge, but in the tradition of Benigni comedy, is still quite tasteful. 17 and over only though. Sexually explicit scenes all over the place, but no nudity.

¨A vicious serial sex killer is on the loose…a monster¨ This slapstick comedy relies heavily on one of Italy's best actors, Roberto Benigni. He won an Oscar for his comedic performance in Life is Beautiful, and we all know how difficult it is for an actor to win an Oscar in a comedy (it has only been done six times in its more than 80 years). But before there was Life is Beautiful, Benigni was already beginning to rise to fame with his film Il Mostro (The Monster). I was not impressed for the first 20 minutes or so because I found his performance over the top and a bit exaggerated. Benigni relies heavily on his physical comedy and many have compared him to the geniuses of Charles Chaplin or even Buster Keaton. I thought Benigni's performance was a bit too much, but as the film progressed I found the clever situations and dialogues pretty funny. He did a better job writing this film than he did acting as the laughs begin once we see how each one of his awkward situations are misinterpreted by the police. Even the great Federico Fellini has recognized the great talent of this man so it wouldn't be wise to ignore this man's work (except for Pinocchio, we can all skip that one). Benigni not only wrote and performed in this film; he also directed and produced it as well, but the true star of the movie is Nicoletta Braschi, his wife, who has worked alongside him in all his movies. This is a very funny comedy; it just takes a while to pick up because of all the silliness in the beginning.

Il Mostro begins with a news report about a serial killer on the loose who has now killed 18 females over the years and police have no prime suspect, until an innocent man named Loris (Roberto Benigni) has the misfortune of hitting on the wrong woman. Loris is working as a landscape gardener during a party and after a mix up he hits on the wrong person and later even more unfortunate incidents involving a chainsaw convert him in the prime suspect. The police decide to follow this man around in order to find the evidence they need to capture him and Loris continues to get caught in unfortunate situations which only solidify the suspicions of the police force. An undercover policewoman named Jessica Rossetti (Nicoletta Braschi) is assigned the task to get close to Loris and try to seduce him in order for his murderous instinct to take place. Jessica does all she can in her power to seduce this innocent man and works along police psychologist Paride Taccone (Michel Blanc) who is very intrigued by his subject and confident this man is the monster. Several funny scenes take place, all involving this police mix up and catching Loris in rather unfortunate situations.

The highlight of the film is probably the scene in which Loris and Jessica invite Paride and his wife for dinner and the psychologist analyzes him with the excuse that he is measuring him for a suit he is tailoring, all the while his wife suffering from nerves of having to be in the same room with the monster. I think that the movie is worth a rent because it has some very funny moments although the first half hour is pretty slow and dull. Braschi does a great job and plays a totally different role from the one in Life is Beautiful. She is more of an extrovert in this movie because she has to try to seduce Loris. The psychologist is also pretty funny and his stereotypical performance garnered several laughs in this film. Overall the slapstick comedy works and will have you smiling. The awkward situations that Loris gets in are a bit exaggerated, but the mix up is rather funny. The characters are one-dimensional, but that is the point in these slapstick comedies as they tend to be very stereotypical. This is a funny movie although it is not a masterpiece like Life is Beautiful was.

Il Mostro by the Italian master, Roberto Benigni, is his funniest among some very funny movies. The earlier comment to watch it in Italian with subtitles is essential. Some of the humour, both spoken and physical slapstick is a little hard at first for North Americans. Once you fall into the Italian sense of humour it will have you on the floor, Roberto Benigni is the twenty first century's Charlie Chaplin. It is optimum for enjoyment if you have lived in Italy, but not required. Go to Italy afterwards! Like Felleni and the Bertolucci brothers, Benigni reflects a lot of what is intrinsically Italian.

Il Mostro is about a mix up, but what comedy is not, it is really about Roberto, the words, the way the words are said, the body gestures and his mastery of playing. You can fall in love with his visual poetry... then learn Italian. I also recommend the unsung, underrated, Son of Pink Panther, it gives a new twist to the Sellers' humour. It's all that Sellers was and more, this is the true successor to the Pink Panther series! If you like the style of Il Mostro then try the earlier Johnny Stecchino, it is classic Benigni as well!

Good job that Roberto Benigni keeps his humour and melodramatic Italian style. The Chaplin style takes its share too. Continental Europeans are more sensitive to cultural and social changes in their countries. This movie was made in 1994, as the end roller reads. It was not the beginning of the hit of learning Mandarin but the number of learning is increasing. I feel so happy to see that the Chinese words used in the film carry meaning. In the old days, when Asia has not yet been in the spotlight or "internationalism" was not yet the buzzword, in movies, written words of Hindi, Chinese, Korean, Japanese carried no meaning because the western viewers didn't bother to know. Now that people got to know more about Asia, film-makers do reasearch more before they shoot the film. I love modern productions with high cultural awareness.

Movie is a good tool to show social, cultural or international changes. In the movie, the Chinese actors though only appeared a few minutes but they had their share like lines, "The candidate is able to write pretty good Chinese.", "Let's give him a question, not very difficult, not very easy." In the past, in most movies, no matter big or small, Asian got no line. Thanks, how I like the change. However, if their names are put in the end roller of this français-italiano production, which posed to be rather international, that would be even better. Interesting that there are more than ten examiners in the exam center. I was completely floored with laughter when I saw that scene. Anyone who has sat for HSK (Mandarin Chinese Proficiency Test) would know that was not true. The exam room in the movie is rather like a Politburo meeting.

I like the setting, a new developing district near Roma, Lazio. An interesting movie about a man (a suspect of serial killer: 18 women) looking for a job and so is learning Mandarin, somehow a novel language to the Europeans and living in a new area. New is the word I can think of when I was watching this hilarious movie. Just lots of fun and amusement in low expense (US$1.29 VCD).

Superb, bravo, buonissimo, magnifique, zhen peng! What a good discovery of Benigni's older production.

The film had some very funny moments, those which used the same formula as some of the funniest moments in "La Vita E Bella" -- the set up is an innocuous event that pays off later. For example, Benigni's landlord is showing his apartment to potential buyers. As he walks from room to room, he trips over the base of the doorway. We forget about this until much later in the film when Benigni, chopping steak with a butcher's knife, trips over the doorway and flies at a guest, looking like a mad maniac.

The other formula is the running gag. In one case, Benigni is sneaking out of his apartment building to avoid encountering the manager. To do so, he squats down and sneaks by the manager's window. Another tenant leaving sees him doing this. To avoid rousing the man's suspicion, Benigni continues to walk while squatting after he has left the building. Again and again throughout the film, whenever he squats down, the same man appears and says hello.

But the movie suffers from the critical problem of a very weak story. The protagonist of the story really should be the policewoman, but instead, it's Benigni's character. They are supposed to be falling in love, but there is very little chemistry between them. And Braschi is not a good actor, so any scene which relies on her is rather painful. Also, the editing is extremely poor. The movie drags and drags; it's almost two hours long but could have been less than an hour and a half. A scene where Benigni explains to a friend how the (police)woman prances around his apartment naked, shoving herself upon him, is hilarious. Then we proceed to see everything he has just described; but his original telling has stolen the impact from the reality.

As long as you realize what you're getting into, this movie can be very enjoyable. From the reviews I'd read, however, I was led to believe that the film was fantastic. It's funny, but it's far from perfect.

This is one of the funniest movies of all time. Roberto Benigni is the definitive next-generation Charlie Chaplain. His use of camera angles to get the dummies in compromising positions, depending on how it's seen, and the way he can include so many different characters so effectively in the movie is amazing. My favorite scene is when the Detective is analyzing Loris when Loris leaves the restaurant. "Now he is punishing it - 'No, not in public'" and "And we can all see what this means." If you want to see it, I've seen the film at Jumbo video in the foreign films section. I advise that you go out and rent it IMMEDIATELY! I gave it a ten, and so will you.

"Il Mostro" is a slapsticky romcom about a little unemployed man, Loris (Benigni), who is thought to be a serial sex killer who dismembers his victims. So, it is no surprise when a dinner guest see Loris stumbling toward her from the kitchen with a meat cleaver in his raised hand and a flashlight protruding under the crotch of his pants that she faints. "The Monster" is one long series of such obvious setups with predictable comical outcomes glued together with a meager story involving Loris and a beautiful cop who is out to prove him a sex fiend. Reminiscent of old school visual comics like Charlie Chaplin or Jerry Lewis, Benigni clowns it up in this unsophisticated mildly sexy Italian romp which should be a fun watch for anyone into sight gags and outrageous or ridiculous contrived but predictable situations. (B-)

I was on holidays in Italy that year when I watched the advert in TV. Roberto Benigni was walking with his funny way (that uses in the movie to avoid the house owner) to the nearest kiosk and stealing the video cassette of his own movie....il Mostro. After that, I had to watch the movie and I have to admit that it's great! He is one of the few actors that he doesn't make himself look ridiculous in order to make you laugh. He doesn't have that stupid kind of parody-american style. He has a great sense of humor and you can't take away the smile off your face after the movie has finished. He has that nice warm Italian tamperamento and that's why maybe I like him and his movies so much. He is an artist! Enjoy the movie!

It seems that Roberto Begnini can't go wrong when it comes to comedy. In a way, he might be the last / only great comedian of our times, who writes, acts, and (usually)directs films at the same time. He alone keeps alive this classic tradition of films, which genre's rules are invented and perfected by such greatness's as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, not to mention director giant Federico Fellini. This one is also a warm-hearted, humane, and really funny, which gives an unusual yet very likable mix, especially in times of so-called humorous films with endless quantities of stupid fart jokes and toilet humor. There might be some flaws however, but none too disturbing. Recommended!

While the subject matter of this movie may seem very heavy and not appealing, it is one of the funniest movies. Even though he is a suspect in several awfull crimes, there is hardly anything offensive in this movie. Plus it a has a satisfying ending, leaving nothing wanting. A very bizzare but good flick.

From the reviews, I was expecting a Peter Sellers Pink Panther type literate farce but instead found this movie to be a small string of Roberto's marvelous physical shtick wrapped up in fluff. Most of the slapstick situations were telegraphed from the forties. Even for a farce, the story is farcical. The movie started off with much promise but then almost immediately everyone began to chew scenery. Perhaps another director could have evened it out but I was bored. Humor is in the eye, so to speak, so take this with a grain since so many others seem to rate it funny. But my vote is it would make a great SNL skit but there is not enough of anything to make a full length movie. Your mileage may vary.

Before Roberto Benigni proved himself capable of masterpieces with "Life is Beautiful" (why did he follow it up with that awful "Pinocchio"?), he made a number of zany comedies, including "Il Mostro" (called "The Monster" in English). After a string of murders, the police suspect builder Loris (Benigni). I should identify that they only have circumstantial evidence, but boy is it some funny circumstantial evidence! Having "learned" about this man, Jessica Rossetti (Nicoletta Braschi) agrees to help nail him. And let me tell you, what she does to try and provoke him into attacking her...well, let's just say that you can't possibly prepare yourself for how funny it is! A hilarious movie in every sense.

So much slapstick comedy here - this film is hilarious! A case of mistaken identity leads Italian policewoman to track down and spend time with Loris (Roberto Benigni), who is anything but a serial killer. Meanwhile, hilarity ensues. This is a funny, charming film. Please see it in Italian, with subtitles. You will laugh!

True comedies that will make you, really, laugh are very rare. This movie is a warranty for laugh.