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Don't listen to the negative reviews

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Billy Wilder is responsible for a major numbers of unforgettable comedies. "Avanti!" has not the fame of "Some like it hot" (1959), "The apartment" (1960) or "The fortune cookie" (1966), but is in the same level. A combination of comedy, drama and romance that Wilder handle like a master. Jack Lemmon is superb, the script is fine and the direction of wilder is touching. Here you get laughs, tears and a lot of moments of truly fun!!!!!!!! A fast paced comedy with little touches of drama combined with an extraordinary numbers of details that convert "Avanti!" in a real vivid experience. This movie is simple GREAT. Highly recommended.

(1)The reviewer who titled his review in part "a morally suspect film" was right on target: the film gives tacit approval to cheating on a spouse, the latter who in the film, from snippets of phone conversations from Lemmon's end, seems to be a helpful, loyal wife. (2)No realistic motive underlies the romantic relationship of the two main characters. (3) The film assumes a woman would be happy to be alone 11 months of the year, all for the sake of one annual month with a married man, with no prospect of permanent union. (4)The film relies on cheap gags which in turn depend on totally suspending reality. Some examples: (a) at the time the movie was set in the early 1970s (by its own cultural and political references), passport control at Leonardo da Vinci did not stamp most foreign passports; (b) an American official addressing a corpse in a coffin, swearing it in for duty, is not at all credible; (c) who would believe that a man would calmly substitute the corpse of a stranger for his own father and fly that corpse to the U.S. for a large funeral, while consigning his father's corpse to an Italian cemetery with a headstone bearing a false name--all this, to keep his new-found lover happy? For those reviewers who raved about the musical theme: what theme? There was none. There were varying bits of Italian folk music. At the beginning of the film, in Rome and then in Ischia, I heard some bars which I believe came from the Neopolitan comedic folk piece "Io, Tua Madre e Te" repeated a few times, but that was it. It is no surprise that the play the movie was based on had a very short run on Broadway and that the movie version didn't make a splash. The ONLY realistic descriptions of the Italian mentality were the acceptance of marital infidelity, the tangled bureaucracy, and the willingness to use personal connections to help a friend or a friend or relative of a friend. Everything else supposedly typically Italian was a gross exaggeration. (For whatever it's worth, I have no Italian ancestry, but I lived and worked independently in Italy and have some understanding of a country with many mentalities, depending on the region and on the city and town. The only American film about Italy that I've seen that, to me, had any flavor of accuracy was "A Bell for Adano." All other American films set in Italy are fantasies. If one wants to see a film with some realistic depictions of segments of Italian society, one should see those that are those made by Italians. Not all Italian directors, of course - Cinecittà produces lots of bombs too.)

If you have ever been to Italy, you will love the jokes in this movie that comically describe Italian ways (bureaucracy, long lunch hour, dramatic love behavior), but also admire them (love to good food, music etc.) You will also love the beauty of the setting: gorgeous Italian places, the sea, fishing boats, lively streets and amusing characters. This movie depicts what a good life consists of and it does it in a comic way, so you feel great while watching this movie, even tough there is death, and mourning and trips to the morgue. All these can be beautiful and romantic including the dying itself ("if happened during a high season"). It is also stimulating to see how "perfectly toned body syndrome" was not present in 1972, and the main characters display without guilt their bodies which they love just the way they are.

After decades of dishing out enough cynicism to make a clergyman lose all faith in humanity, I'm almost glad that, by 1972, director Billy Wilder and co-screenwriter I.A.L. Diamond had gotten most of it out of their system. Wilder's fifth film with Jack Lemmon, 'Avanti! (1972),' can only be described as a pleasant comedy – so pleasant, in fact, that our lead character commits adultery seemingly out of politeness. There are, of course, elements of satire concerning foreign policy and the miles of red-tape surrounding international commerce, but the overwhelming emotional tone is one of bittersweet fulfillment. This is a great director approaching the twilight of his life and career, and finally recognising that there is, after all, much goodness in this world, even if one must travel to Italy in order to experience it. Nevertheless, the three major creative talents (Wilder, Diamond and Lemmon) would subsequently return to cynical quickfire screwball with 'The Front Page (1974),' an adaptation of the same play that spawned Howard Hawks' 'His Girl Friday (1940).'Jack Lemmon plays Wendell Armbruster, Jr, a wealthy American businessman who boards the first plane to Italy following the news of his father's death. Wendell Armbruster, Sr was killed in an automobile accident while on his annual pilgrimage to the Grand Hotel Excelsior, where he goes, he says, to rejuvenate in their famous Italian mud baths. It doesn't take long, however, for Wendell to discover that his much-respected father had not died alone, and that his secret English mistress of ten years had also perished when their vehicle ploughed off a winding road and into a vineyard. Pamela Piggott (Juliet Mills), the mistress' open-minded daughter, has also arrived in the country to claim her mother's body, and Wendell treats her poorly, his steadfast morals refusing to acknowledge their parents' liaison for the great love that it was. As the two corpses become embroiled in endless lengths of red tape – including the need to acquire two zinc-lined coffins, and no shortage of obscure contracts to be signed – Wendell and Pamela begin to understand their close connection, and form a touching relationship of their own.Though the two leads both deliver sterling comedic performances, Clive Revill is undoubtedly the film's highlight as Carlo Carlucci, the world's most accommodating hotel manager. Blessed with political connections of all kinds, and an inability to sleep until the hotel's off-season, Carlo darts endlessly across town to tie up all the loose ends, apparently expecting nothing in return – he's probably Wilder's all-time nicest comedic creation. The narrative style is similar to that of Arthur Hiller's 'The Out of Towners (1970),' in that the story is comprised of many consistently-mounting setbacks, though the overall effect is far less frustrating for the audience and spares sufficient time to allow some important character development. There is also a rather unnecessary subplot involving a deported American immigrant and his disturbingly-masculine girlfriend, and the film, however nice its intentions, does run about half an hour overtime. Nevertheless, 'Avanti!' is a mature romantic comedy with memorable performances and a very enjoyable story; I wouldn't be surprised if it warms to me greatly with repeat viewings.