Franco Castellano e Giuseppe Moccia
Grand Hotel Excelsior

LA RECENSIONE

Curious 1982 comedy, rather trivial but nice, featuring a lineup of popular actors both in the 80s and today. See the great Celentano (who plays Taddeus, the brutal director of the grand hotel) or Enrico Montesano (who plays the waiter Egisto Costanzi, but pretends to be a commendatore to impress his very obnoxious daughter) and also Carlo Verdone (who plays Pericle, the lazy and losing boxer) and Diego Abatantuono (in the role of the magician of Segrate). Finally, Eleonora Giorgi, an elegant woman hopelessly in love with the icy director Taddeus.

The hotel is a place of extremely silly events that undermine the already precarious quality of the film. The tango of Celentano and Abatantuono, the food training, and Verdone's fight. The paradoxical stupidity of Montesano in failing to manage even 2 situations at once, the unexpected levitation of the magician of Segrate Abatantuono (a noteworthy media event), and the craziness of the unfortunate and makeshift bartender Celentano (including ballet) plus Giorgi's mournful attempts to attract attention. In a context of madness, a mad conclusion: a great classical concert to save the debt-ridden hotel.

Having fun, between one absurdity and another, is possible, especially if you appreciate the Italian humor of the famous protagonists, who with just their faces and body movements support a flimsy and nonsensical plot. However, Italian cinema of this kind is appreciated, both for nostalgic reasons and for the lack of intellectual exertion required, and all films of this genre revolve precisely around the comedic idols of the moment.