Carlo Verdone
Compagni Di Scuola

Federica (Nancy Brilli), a beautiful kept woman, gathers her former class in her lover's villa, 15 years after their final high school exam. There's one who became a deputy minister (the irritating Vallenzani Massimo Ghini), someone who married a former classmate and is in crisis (Eleonora Giorgi), and someone like Ciardulli aka Tony Brando (or Mike Foster) who failed as a singer and is now broke following the "Anagni's slap," claiming only to have anticipated with a performance of his hit "Collant Collant" what Madonna and Prince later did.

Fabbris, a handsome boy in high school, now aged prematurely and balding, isn't recognized by any of his classmates, and when he is, he's mocked to the point of having to leave the party. Famous is the line by Finocchiaro (Angelo Bernabucci), a genuine owner of a meat center, to Fabbris: "Look at how you were, look at how you are... You look like your uncle."
In contrast, there's also someone improved like Toscani, who was plagued by acne as a teenager and is now a handsome man, still infatuated with Margherita (Giusi Cataldo), now married to a jealous southern carabiniere. For the two, it's already too late....

And then there's Ruffolo Er Patata (Carlo Verdone), a literature teacher in a private Roman high school, whose marriage is in pieces with an uncouth wife and a "very clean" relationship with his student Cri Cri (Natasha Hovey), Lino Santolamazza (Alessandro Benvenuti) a Court of Appeals judge left paralyzed following a road accident but who is actually just pretending, having orchestrated the joke with the prankster gynecologist Lepore (Maurizio Ferrini) and Maria Rita Amoroso (Athina Cenci), a psychiatrist bombarded with questions by her former schoolmates and also devoutly trying to solve them, only to eventually fall into crisis herself. Unforgettable is also Postiglione (Luigi Petrucci), verbose and nagging, who is silenced by Finocchiaro and Tony Brando with a massive dose of sleeping pills.

Verdone leaves his hilarious character sketches to give us two hours of pure comedy with a veil of melancholy that at times becomes heavier. Sharp, comedic, melancholic, amusing... all these emotions coexist in this little gem of a film. Verdone observes his generation reproduced in this movie almost with detachment, but at the same time scratches, how he scratches, as sensed throughout the film's seemingly jovial atmosphere, culminating in the final phrase of the student who has an affair with Er Patata, laconically stating :"I don't want to become like you".

Verdone skillfully manages to concentrate irony and criticism, melancholy and sarcasm, succeeding in directing around twenty actors without significant drops in pace, certainly helped by the talent of the chosen actors, each well-immersed in their character. In short, a remarkable ensemble performance. Perhaps the most fulfilled is Finocchiaro with his somewhat raw humor, enriched with his butchery, feeling accomplished, and maybe even Tony Brando, despite debts partly settled with a hilarious "alms" scene requested from his classmates, still retains a childlike spirit and a bit of naivety.

Exceptional when he tries to sell the Sironi painting to Finocchiaro.

-Tony Brando: not to mention that it's also a great topic of conversation, you wouldn't believe how many evenings it has resolved for me,

-Finocchiaro: but it has purple tits

-Tony Brando: Indeed, you ask: if it has purple tits, what color is its ass going to be?

-Finocchiaro: "See, turquoise..."

But the award for the best goes to the clumsy Er Patata in my opinion, because his character is somewhat the reflection of the entire film and perhaps also represents in a single character all his splendid caricatures. A film I've watched and rewatched that never tires me, amusing yet sweet but fundamentally bitter for a time that can't return.

By the way, I've never understood the ending, whether Hon. Vallenzani rapes Er Patata's student, or if the student is willing... clarify this doubt for me.