A string of contradictions Cousins Paolo and Gaetano were friends in childhood, but do not communicate for almost two decades because of the long-standing enmity of fathers and, accordingly, families. Paolo runs a family hotel but lives in constant fear for his health. Gaetano trades in fictitious marriages for immigrant women, and his problem is Russian bandits. An accident brings the cousins together again. Now they have to deal with inheritance, hypochondria, “pizzo” for the mafia and obligations to the evil Russians. But the main thing is to unwind the coil of family contradictions!
In one of the interviews, Ficarra and Picone confessed their love for another great comic duo – Toto and Peppino. Therefore, it is not surprising that their roles were distributed classically: Paolo (Picone) is shy, trusting and naive. Gaetano (Ficarra) is insolent, cunning and greedy. But both cousins, by and large, are kind guys, to which they at some point point point a familiar Chinese: “You are so the same”!
Ficarra & Picone is probably the best comedy duo of modern Italian cinema (if anyone corrects me by naming other names, I would appreciate it). They ironize the most pressing issues: immigration, the mafia, the lies of politicians, money-generated enmity between people. But all difficulties can be overcome if friendship and purity of relations are preserved.
The film has a lot of improvisation, dramatic and tearfully funny episodes. My personal favorite is a fragment of Gaetano getting lost in three churches! By the way, they say that in the baptism scene, the newborn is the second son of Ficarra Tommaso, and the mother is his wife Rossella Leone.
It’s not hard to see how much Ficarra & Picone love their native Sicily. Perhaps that is why the film was a decent box office success and for two weeks topped the rating of Italian cinema distribution. In total, the picture collected 7.5 million euros. Filming took place in Catania, Paterno and Ragusa.
7 out of 10