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Nice effects though.

Great Film overall

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Now I'm thinking of how to rank this film, underrated? or just deserves its lukewarm greeting when first came into theaters in 1999. Director Franco Zeffirelli (Brother Sun, Sister Moon 1972) was at his twilight time when shot this film (he was 76 then), which undeniably means there is scare chance that any director could launch another career apex (late bloomers are not included). Firstly for any film aficionados, the vintage cast consists of Cher, Maggie, Judi, Joan and Lily has an irresistible allure which only indicates that it will not dash my hope of an enchanting 2-hour stretch. The film gets Cher plays herself, divine and vulnerable at the same time, although I don't buy it when she would make such a rash and unexplained mistake in the latter story, maybe Paolo Seganti is too hot to resist (who knows, he is killingly delicious here). My favorite performance here is Dame Maggie Smith, whose acute spinster character is again fun to watch, alongside her old confidante Dame Judi Dench, a more vivacious image as Arabella, the art guardian. Joan Plowright's part is a heartrending one and Lily Tomlin's lesbian fashion could never be better for her. After all, this is a biographic story of Zeffirelli himself and our protagonist is Luca, whose adolescent ceremony co-occurs with WWII, which profoundly affects those expatriate ladies. This is a substantially feel-good film, and I must say I did enjoy the film, Zeffirelli failed to keep the balance to not reveal his conspicuous contrivances of bolstering the emotional momentum, so it leaves me some artificial impulse to discern some biased point-of-view about British chauvinism and American flattery, anyway, nothing to do with Italians, eventually.

Tea with Mussolini is a beautiful and strongly acted film, with the talented Franco Zeffirelli turning the camera onto his own life. The film drags slightly and some of the drama turns into a series of anecdotes. However, it looks gorgeous with the rich settings, lavish costumes and stunning cinematography, while the score is beautiful. The script is sophisticated and well written, and the direction is excellent. And then we are treated to really strong performances from Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, Maggie Smith, Lily Tomlin and Cher. So overall, while I wouldn't consider it perfect, it is beautiful and worthwhile. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I was really disappointed with this film. The only reason I watched it was because of Dame Maggie Smith (who I adore) and Cher (because I was intrigued). I felt as though the director wanted to create a mass-murder using boredom. The plot is bizarre. Consider the grandson (or whatever the hell he was - he rarely spoke) of Dame Maggie's character. They dressed him as a girl so he would be imprisoned with the old ladies in the tower. It was slightly amusing at first, but he somehow manages to continue the deceit to the point that one of the guard's wanted to date him - despite his totally unconvincing appearance as a woman. If this was a comedy, that might be funny a la 'Some Like It Hot'. But this is supposed to be a drama? The kid (and later teenager) Luca was boring and clearly included in the story to make old ladies go 'awwwww'. I always cringe when I see the period piece British snob living abroad parading around like they are god while declaring the 'natives' are backwards. Just awful. The only bright spot was, astonishingly, Cher. The artistic and highly ostentatious character she played suited her - in fact you could believe it was Cher 1940's style. Dame Judy Dench looked weird. Lily Tomlin looked as though she stepped out of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'. I found myself wanting something awful to happen to these old ladies, which is mean, but I couldn't help it. I actually laughed when the 'facists' threw their tea and paintings out the window (and I secretly wished that dog had gone as well - despite being a dog lover). The locations and scenery are beautiful though.

This film, I feel, is amazing. It combines a violent historical period with comedy, without offending anyone, which is a very admirable trait. The perfectly acted characters were both funny and very believable; very English 1930's or so old woman.The plot was interesting and a well written film overall. The cross-dressing son a humorous side-story to the dominant "imprisonment" of the ladies, and the situation with Else (Cher) and Luca. Still, these different story lines merged seamlessly to provide a varied and fascinating story throughout.Overall, a fantastic film.