Quo Vado? (2016)

Genre

Comedy

Director

Gennaro Nunzinate

Country

Italy

Cast

Checco Zalone, Eleonora Giovanardi, Ninni Bruschetta, Sonia Bergamasco, Maurizio Micheli, Paolo Pierobon, Lino Banfi, Ludovica Mudugno, Azzurra Martino, Lilia Perno, Diego Verdegiglio

Storyline

All Checco (Checco Zalone) wanted as a child was a guaranteed job as a public servant and all the privileges that come with it. And his dream has come true, but when a new reformist government vows to cut down on bureaucracy, he is forced to accept terrible conditions in order to keep his job.

Opinion

When Quo Vado? hit theatres back in January 2016 everybody was talking about how great this film was. Still, I didn't care much for it because I have seen some other Checco Zalone films and, while they were funny, they weren't comedy masterpieces. And neither is this. Actually, this one is not even as funny as I was expecting it to be.

The first reason why I didn’t care much for this film was the plot. The story of the average Italian man who only cares about his guaranteed state job and the privileges that come with it and does everything to keep it didn’t appeal me much simply because that’s the ugly truth, that kind of person is everywhere here in Italy and nobody *politicians* does anything about it. Eventually, the story turned out to be very flat, quite boring and predictable – so I guess I was right.

Also, Zalone’s mockery of the average Italian man does not work as it should. If there’s something I’ve learned watching Italian comedies is that we are usually great at making fun of our flaws. Quo Vado? fails at that. The satire is indeed pretty flat.

The humour just doesn’t work here. There’s a terrific lack of comical elements. Most of the jokes fall flat and, overall, the film just isn’t funny. I had some laughs here and there, but that’s not enough in a comedy.

The characters and acting are terrible as well. In spite of that, Checco Zalone is able to make you kind of care for him, and you’ll eventually end up rooting for him.

Still, in my humble opinion, this film is widely overrated and the only thought of it being the highest grossing Italian film of all time makes me sick.