My Friends Act II

The second instalment of an Italian comedy set in Florence. Four friends meet at a graveside. Their fifth, Perozzi, died at the end of the first film and they go there every year. They recall their old exploits there. The narrative goes back and the dead friend appears in those sections. Then the new pranks begin. What this group does has a name. Among themselves they call these zingarate; unplanned, drawn-out games they assume will harm nobody. From there the film is a series of stunts. A hospital ward, a spa, a courtroom, an engagement and a funeral. The jokes get harder. In the first film the victims were strangers; here they turn on each other and on people close to them. What the narrative is interested in is not humour but ageing: the men are approaching sixty, their work is going badly, their marriages are ending, and the prank has become a means of escape. Sassaroli's line is the saddest. The doctor is losing his authority in his own hospital and covers it with jokes. The tone is darker than the first film. The narrative carries a constant sense of diminishment while laughing. Most of the group comes from the first film and the characters are played by the same actors. Ugo Tognazzi, Adolfo Celi, Gastone Moschin, Renzo Montagnani and Philippe Noiret are in the cast. Mario Monicelli directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes Italian-style comedy and has seen the first film. Who it is not for: anyone who does not know the series; the film introduces nothing and some of the jokes are plainly cruel today.