30/10/2013 - A record number of cinema showings for Sole a catinelle, the latest film starring Apulia comic and box office champion, distributed by Medusa

For every new film distributed by Checco Zalone, the number of cinemas showing his films grow exponentially. There were 430 for Cado dalle nubi [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (€14 million in box office revenue in 2009); numbers rose to 850 for Che bella giornata [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (making over €43 million in 2011, an absolute record for a film in Italy, beaten only by the €60 million generated by Avatar). Thursday, October 31, the latest comedy by the unstoppable Checco Zalone-Gennaro Nunziante duo, directed by the latter, is set to be released in an unprecedented 1200 movie theatres, distributed by Medusa. Bets are starting on the revenue the film will generate. For its opening day alone, 30,000 tickets are being forecast as being sold.

Sole a catinelle [+see also:
trailer
film profile] is the title for the new film produced by Taodue by Pietro Valsecchi. It has all the elements to become a great success story: funny (during the press screening, spontaneous applause could be heard during certain scenes), it is quick on its feet (one skit follows another), and it lends itself to the kind of comedy not all would approve of (politically incorrect and full of swear words), but which is undoubtedly typical of Checco Zalone (photo).

The authors’ irony gives everyone a go: from masonic entrepreneurs to Che Guevara t-shirt wearing communists (“does this 'Che Guevara' also make handbags?”), radical chic yogis, vegans and therapy addicts. Auteur cinema is also part of the made-fun-of mix (you even find yourself laughing about euthanasia, a popular theme in recent films), as are childhood traumas and philanthropic environments, all to an optimistic beat which rides over the financial crisis – incarnated by Checco’s character – who is unmistakably Berlusconi-like. “We liked the idea of this stupid little man, a product of twenty years of Berlusconi era, for whom no ideology exists except for money. An absolute resistant to the crisis,” Checco Zalone, whose real name is Luca Medici, explained.

Main character (Checco) is a vacuum cleaner salesman who is going through marital and financial crises. He promises his son a holiday if he gets top marks at school. The child (divine Robert Dancs) achieves his part of the deal, but his father has no money. The only kind of holiday he can deliver on is to visit an old aunt in the Molise region (an ironic take on this part of the world too, where it seems there are no inhabitants below the age of 80), until he meets a rich French woman (Aurore Erguy), who also has a son. From that moment onwards, holiday prospects change and start to involve exclusive parties, amazing swimming pools, yachts, golf courses and horses.

Checco will navigate this upper class universe with genuine irreverence. Beware of speaking of vulgarity though: “for us, what is vulgar is what is clumsy, him, her and the lover,” Nunziante tells whoever accuses him of using off-colour language. Zalone-Nunziante go from one joke to the next (Checco, worried that his son will never come up with one, wants to send him to a speech therapist). Deep down, you need to know how to swear too. 

(Translated from Italian)