Volere Volare

Stars: Maurizio Nichetti (The Icicle Thief), Angela Finocchiaro. Italian writer, director, and star Maurizio Nichetti's follow-up to his delightful The Icicle Thief (1989) tries to mix slapstick sex farce with animation and, for the most part, falls flat on its cartoon butt. Angela Finocchiaro spends more time out of her Calvin Kleins than in as Martina, a woman who makes her living acting out the mostly benign sexual fantasies of others (a cook who creates a chocolate concoction on Martina's derriere, an elderly man who calls her mother and likes to be fed a bottle, twin architects who sip coffee and watch her bathe, etc.). Nichetti plays the love interest as Maurizio, the shy half of a brother team who dub the sound into movies and cartoons. Maurizio's brother brings in girls to add the moans and sighs on grade-Z skin flicks, while Maurizio lays down the soundtrack for cartoons (his work with sound effects are the best scenes in the film). Although it takes way too long to develop, the minimal plot eventually throws Maurizio and Martina together. But during their first real date Maurizio starts to turn into a cartoon... Unfortunately, the "cartoon" Maurizio prominently displayed on the box is actually onscreen a disappointingly short time at the end of the film. Audience: Foreign film fans and serious animation junkies (who can fast forward to the brief animated scenes).