Avanti!

as a comedy by billy wilder this fails miserably, but he did set a pretty high bar previously. still this movie is pretty decent, it has a generally interesting plot, and jack lemmon gives a fantastic performance. that is enough to make me like a movie.

One of Billy Wilder's better later films. Funny, charming, and Juliet Mills looks very good with no clothes on :-)

Juliet Mills is supposed to be a "fat-ass". What? WHAT? Putting aside the film's dubious treatment of weight, it's a passable romantic comedy, one without any big laughs but it's amusing enough (more so if you enjoy Italian stereotypes like women with mustaches ho ho!). It's a watered-down version of the sexual revolution for a more conservative audience, but it still gets rather racy at times. Lemmon and Mills have a nice, charming chemistry together.

Juliet Mills is fantastic in this, and Jack Lemmon is always good. Why Juliet (sister of Hayley Mills) wasn't ever given more to do is beyond me!

Viewed October 7, 2018.

Diminishing returns had already begun to set in well before Avanti arrived, but it is not the least of Wilder-Lemmon's colloborations, and it's charming and breezy enough to be watchable despite its flaws. Wilder had trouble settling on a tone, so the film is not nearly as funny or dramatic as it should be--the use of local stereotypes certainly ages it--but strong work by Lemmon and Mills helps enormously, and its treatment of infidelity is odd to say the least.

79.000

Enjoyable and pleasant romantic comedy, with a fair few laughs and a nice light touch to the romance. It's annoying that the film keeps insisting that Juliet Mills' character is fat - she's a perfectly normal, healthy weight. Also the film feels a tad too long for something so fluffy.

#708

Billy Wilder was always on the cutting edge of promiscuity, but by 1972 his take on the sexual revolution seems pretty tame. It's a plot unfortunately founded in a depiction of Italy as gimmick and stereotype, and the romance isn't particularly touching. Still, it boasts lots of clever dialogue and a few hilarious gags. For all its flaws it remains a very easy watch.

"Avanti!" is one more clever comedy by Wilder and Diamond starring their actor-fetish, the great Jack Lemmon. It's a hilarious, genuinely romantic, surprisingly surprising, politically caustic film with one of the greatest comedic ensembles in cinema history (Lemmon, Mills, Revill, Acampora), some side-splitting gags and wonderful scenery.

Odd movie from Billy Wilder. Is it a comedy? A drama? Not sure what the point was, but every Wilder/Jack Lemmon movie is at least worth watching.

761

A plot that's full of contrived situations and occasional misunderstandings with a bizarre moral, but most of it is pretty funny, and that's all that really matters.

Very amusing comedy with lots of anti-American details. Actually I never thought how gay-friendly Billy Wilder movies are. Juliet Mills looks hot, especially in the very end of the movie, just before the other American guy walks in. Pay attention on her when she's hiding stuff on the upper shelf and after that in pajamas.

807

It has a few moments, but the whole movie seems to be in slow-motion.

Billy Wilder directs Jack Lemmon in another romantic comedy. Worked in the 50's, not so much in the 70's. God only knows what Juliet Mills' hedonistic Englishwoman finds in Lemmon's consistently stuffy American. No laughs here anywhere and the "romance" is boring if not downright disagreeable.

# 841

Romantic comedy with intelligent humor.