The title suggests a nice, relaxed meal in pleasant company, and moreover a pleasant, light drama or comedy with no heavy themes, and that is what this aspires to be. Very Italian, with lots of casual wine sipping and a sprinkling of parmesan, it takes place when much of Rome seems to be on vacation. Meanwhile, middle-aged Gianni, who lives with his elderly mother, winds up being overnight host to multiple elderly women. They are all nice enough, though collectively a mild handful with their dietary restrictions, medications, and need for beds. Gianni is played by the director, Gianni Di Gregorio, who looks a lot like the late Jerry Orbach. Di Gregorio wrote the recent crime drama Gomorrah, among others, but apparently was looking for something less challenging for his directing debut.
I have no problem enjoying this sort of lightly plotted trifle, and this is certainly not unpleasant. But it’s so mild that it fails to make much of an impression. If this were actually something that happened to someone, it would make an amusing yarn, but a feature film seems a bit too much. Even if that movie takes merely the length of a leisurely lunch (75 minutes), viewers may be thinking that they’d prefer to spend that time eating the meal than watching it.
IMDB link
viewed 4/21/10 at Ritz Bourse and reviewed 4/22/10
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