Product Details

• Actors: Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, Paolo Bonacelli, Gaetano Campisi, Alessandro De Santis
• Directors: Roberto Benigni
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: Italian, English
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New Line Home Video
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 102 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303614280
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,389 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #3 in	Video > Art House & International > European Cinema > Italy > Comedy
  #13 in	Video > Comedy > Farce
  #13 in	Video > Comedy > Comic Criminals

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
During its release, this was the most popular film of all time in its native Italy. A typical Roberto Benigni comedy of mistaken identity, this 1991 work stars the actor-director in two roles, one a tough mafioso named Toothpick and the other a meek bus driver who is the gangster's look-alike. When the bad guy's girlfriend comes on to the clueless innocent--and she brings him along to her Sicilian villa--the slapstick madness rolls into high gear. Benigni really is a very funny and often remarkable clown, and he employs his usual physical gags in great and gratifying abundance. His script's inspiration reaches several peak moments when the mysteries between light and dark doppelgangers are suggested. One could reasonably call this sort of Jekyll-and-Hyde tale the closest Benigni has yet come to making his version of Jerry Lewis's The Nutty Professor. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Toothpicks, Bananas, and Organized Crime Equal Laughter, July 15, 2000

By	unraveler "unraveler" (Nevada) - See all my reviews

Johnny Stecchino is hilarious and educational. For example, I learned a new game, "the cabinet minister's wife." And to think that for so many years I played chess! Roberto Benigni is a singing school bus driver named Dante in this movie, who falls in love with a beautiful and sophisticated Maria. There is only one problem that Dante does not know of: Maria is married to a mafioso who is a spitting image of Dante, and she plans to switch the two men and to have Dante killed to get her husband out of trouble. Benigni also plays the mafia don. He is very good in both roles. The funniest parts of the movie take place in Palermo. The scene where Dante is trying to persuade the cardinal to take his "medicine" is just about as funny as anything I have ever seen. The scene in the opera is also hilarious.

Eventually, Maria has to make a moral choice. Buy it, and stay away from bananas in Palermo--don't even look at them.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Il film più divertente che io abbia mai visto..., May 9, 2004

By	Jess - See all my reviews

This film is by far the funniest film I have ever seen. It could not be more entertaining. I could sit here and write about what happened in the film and try to explain why it was hilarious, but the truth is that it's something that simply needs to be experienced, you can't be told about it. All I can tell you, the movie watching public, to do is to see this movie in the original italian with subtitles. It is true that even if you don't understand italian, you need to hear Roberto's voice for it to work. Never get a dubbed copy of ANY of his films. The dubbing is always crap. He is the funniest man alive and this film showcases the best and the most purest version of his comedy of any of his work. It's over the top, yes, but it's splendid good fun and it'll put a smile on your face for hours after.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Do you really wanna laugh?, September 17, 1999

By A Customer

You've never seen this movie? C'mon, it's impossible. According to everyone, the best movie of Benigni, you will laugh for two hours and after the end for days. Bananas, mafia-men, politician and insurances. Benigni is impossible to stop. Sicily and its main problem... the traffic!