Meno Male Che Ci Sei looks to span generations of women
Strong off of €16m at the 2007 box office from teen flick Ho Voglia di Te [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news), 39-year-old Madrid-born director Luis Prieto, adopted by Italy’s Cattleya studio, is back in the saddle with Meno Male Che Ci Sei [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“Good Thing You’re Here”), a sentimental comedy aimed at young people and 30-40-year-old women.
To hit both targets – based on the eponymous novel by Maria Daniela Raineri, who wrote the script – the film’s two main characters are troubled teen Allegra (Chiara Martegiani, created on Maria De Filippi’s reality TV show Amici) and the romantic and bit naïve Luisa (established actress Claudia Gerini).
They meet and become friends after a plane accident takes the lives of Allegra’s parents. Her father (Marco Giallini) was Luisa’s lover, which Allegra discovers going through his email. Her new surrogate mother/friend helps her deal with the pain of the loss (and the man who had promised to live with her) and the hormonal crises of a young girl about to hit 18. Allegra is in love with her classmate Gabriele (a tender Alessandro Sperduti), whose his jealousy is so strong, however, it ruins everything.
There’s also the usual good-looking but unstable 40-year-old who passes through the story like a meteor, played by Guido Caprino (imprisoned by the role), who in just a few days manages to knock up Luisa, sleep with Allegra and run from his responsibilities.
Convincing performances, a few laughs, too many clichés and too little realism make up this second collaboration between Cattleya and Focus Features, which is being distributed domestically on 200 screens by Universal.
(Translated from Italian)
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