The Legend of Al, John and Jack

The fourth film by Aldo, Giovanni e Giacomo, Italy's best-known comedy trio, directed by the three of them together with Massimo Venier. Al, John and Jack were not invented for this film. They had already appeared as short sketches inside two earlier films by the trio, Tre uomini e una gamba in 1997 and Così è la vita in 1998; this feature is those sketches expanded. The story is set in New York in 1958. Three hopeless Italian-American hitmen are given the simple job of showing the feared mafia boss Sam Genovese's aunt around the city. Jack shoots her by accident with the pistol he was given for his birthday. The rest is spent fleeing the boss's wrath, made considerably worse when Al abruptly loses his memory. It opened on 13 December 2002 and took €22.2m, the trio's biggest commercial success after Chiedimi se sono felice and Così è la vita. Who it is for: viewers who like Italian popular comedy and the trio's other films. Who it is not for: anyone without the language. A large share of the humour is dialect and timing between the three of them and does not survive subtitles. The plot also dissolves between sketches.