The Mafia Only Kills In Summer

In one word, amateurish. In every aspect of the crafting. A TV movie bad also for the standard of the italian TV. It's ambitious: Tries hard to be a lighthearted comedy that can shift the tone in historic drama, as it is in the tradition of italian comedy (see "Life is beautiful"), but end-up being the definition of a corny film. It has a good side though, it's so bad that now i use it as a test: whoever find this film well-made or even "nice", i'm sure doesn't understand shit about cinema.

Coming-of-age romance framed by historical satire, deeply rooted in a specific time and place where the Mafia is (or was) more than cultural bogeyman, but a very tangible part of every day life. That is, it's probably most resonant to a select group of people with first-hand experience. Irreverent, not laugh-out-loud hilarious, but consistently amusing.

I saw this at a film festival with a big crowd of Italian viewers. They seemed to enjoy it while I was mainly waiting for the end credits. The old-fashioned comedy didn't really do it for me, and the best aspect for me was learning about the life of common people in an environment where the mafia affects everything. You might enjoy it a lot more, If you have greater knowledge about Italian politics of the time.