Avanti! Review
Overlooked and underrated, Avanti! may be late Billy_Wilder, but it still sports his inimitable touch (even with the uncharacteristically salty language and nudity). Scripted by Wilder and longtime collaborator I.A.L. Diamond, Avanti! covers familiar Wilder/Diamond comic territory with its story of uptight rich American Jack_Lemmon finding more than he bargained for, particularly in the person of overripe Brit Juliet_Mills, while on an emergency trip to Europe. Sardonically clear-eyed about the compromises of life and romance, Avanti!'s love story is also sweetly wistful as Lemmon and Mills reenact their parents' Italian pas de deux, complete with a humorous skinny dip at dawn. Wilder keeps it all moving with aplomb, yet takes the time to let the glorious Ischia locations work their seductive charms. Clive_Revill provides superb support as the scheming hotel manager, while Pippo_Franco's one scene as an Italian coroner elevates bureaucratic efficiency to an art form. Though not as renowned as such prior Lemmon/Wilder/Diamond classics as The_Apartment (1960) and Some_Like_It_Hot (1959), Avanti! is well worth a look. Lucia Bozzola, Rovi
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