Carlo Verdone
Viaggi Di Nozze

Self-celebration of one's interpretative versatility is an operation that may annoy those who do not love him. Instead, Verdone fills this comedy with himself, but he never seems excessive or overflowing, even though he repeats "characters" we are already familiar with.

He pays homage to and revisits himself when he plays the hyper-verbal character, the shy loser, and the thug (as in "Bianco, rosso e Verdone" from 1981 or "Un sacco bello" from 1980) and repeats the three-episode film structure that revolves around three different characters. Verdone, a skilled cabaret artist, manages everything well. The part of the verbose character, it's well established, he performs excellently. The thug too. ("Gallo Cedrone" from 1998 or the same films mentioned a few lines above). The clumsy shy character, besides being the most seen, is a figure probably very close to the actor's personality more so than his other characters. Essentially, he revisits himself and thus portrays all those grotesque and ironic facets of simple, complex, troubled, and neurotic characters, cowards, and doubters. The audience appreciates his now classic forms of transformation, because they almost always end up being embedded in pleasant and smooth comedies, also spiced with a pinch of reflection. The caricatures that revolve around the Roman director are almost always well-matched and strongly characterized by the screenplays. In short, Verdone knows how to choose well.

The latest testament to this is "Viaggi di nozze", from 1995, where the reassuring performance of Claudia Gerini as the empty and loudmouth vulgarian convinces from all angles. In the episode, perhaps the most successful, of Ivano and Jessica, Verdone shows a bleak picture, made of nouveau riches and bumpkins of various sizes. The restaurant scene where everyone's cell phones ring continuously demonstrates that common sense is found on other "shores." The journey of the two bizarre newlyweds is made of "excesses" and the search for extravagance and culminates in an absolute void made of gazes into nothingness and symbolic phrases like "what do we do?, where do we go?" The line "Do we do it weird?" doesn't go unnoticed either, a catchphrase of the two passionate and vulgar newlyweds. And again: the attempt to write a postcard for friends is fantastic. Zero ideas, at most a nice "Hey jerks!" and all that's left is a big headache from too much thinking. All that's left is to stare at the sky and, when a shooting star passes by, no wish comes to mind. A desolate and effective representation of a generational slice without values that no longer knows what to search for.

Fantastic performance by Veronica Pivetti as Fosca, newlywed of Raniero Cotti Borroni, an oppressive and obsessive doctor who suffocates the existence, it seems, of all the people around him without even realizing it. The marriage, which seems to have blossomed out of her gratitude towards him, slips into a honeymoon that retraces (in detail) Raniero's previous honeymoon, where he constantly makes comparisons between Fosca and his previous (suicidal) wife Scilla. The story hits spot-on in a Fantozzi-like manner (therefore paradoxical) the sense of suffocation, excessive apprehension (a powerful formula to exasperate anyone) and the immense egocentrism of certain men who cannot see beyond their own noses. The fragile Fosca, feeling trapped and destined for a life of bitterness, takes an extreme action to free herself. Here Verdone has fun and makes others have fun.

Less successful is the performance of the eternal losers with Cinzia Mascoli playing Valeriana. The two newlyweds, Giovannino and Valeriana, are pursued by their absurd families who cannot avoid problems for the couple even on their wedding day, leaving them never at peace. First, Giovannino has to take care of placing the senile old father with someone in the family, without finding a solution. Then it's Valeriana's sister who pretends to commit suicide to attract a bit of attention from everyone. This little story is rather dull and reflects the somewhat insignificant protagonists.

An excellent, colorful, effective, and entertaining performance by a very prolific director with excellent skills. A personal interpretation of marriage (Verdone has divorced) that in the first frames celebrates it with an explosion of wedding cake. An actor-director-screenwriter who knows how to tell today's stories and who often and willingly represents the average Italian, with his limitations, fears, and dreams, and knows how to do so in a grotesque way. He pushes it to the limit, but doesn't cross it. He brushes up against the paradox, but doesn't touch it. And for years, he has been offering us his tender and bizarre comedy, never excessive, from which almost always emerges a social message or a reflection on how to face life, teaching us that in the end, it is a comedy.