"Quo vado?" or "Der Vollposten" is an Italian(-language) film from this year and what got me really curious about it was the fact that I read it was the biggest commercial success ever in Italy. But first things first. The director is Gennaro Nunziante and he wrote this movie together with his lead actor Checco Zalone, who has the same name in the film and is basically in every single scene during these 85 minutes. These two are pretty good friends and they worked together on other occasions as well in the past. This one here is the story of a man who is employed by the state and things change drastically for him when he gets moved from one location to the next in an attempt to get him to accept a compensation and quit his job as they are not allowed to fire him because of his status. And he solves all these situations in a way that is a lot about charm and also about comedy. So they really rely on you finding the main character likable. Guess what? I almost never did. I, from a very subjective position, found the actor's take on the character pretty unlikable and the clumsy attempt of how they included a justification that halfway into the film he recognized his wrongs (out of nowhere) did not save the film at all for me.
But the biggest problem was the comedy. There were shockingly few moments that I found really funny and it was so obvious how they tried so hard to make every second scene a funny scene and it became cringeworthy really quickly as some jokes were really far far away from what one considers good comedy. I would say the female actors in here really saved the film on some occasions as they showed some decent acting talent, something I was missing from Zalone from start to finish and this way they made the film watchable at times and also gave it solid directions in terms of drama, emotion or comedy. But even there were moments that just could not have been saved by anybody. It was really disappointing. However, I will admit that some of the audience members in my sitting had a truly great time seeing this film and there was lots of laughter. Oh well.. if you find jokes about chlamydia funny, then go for it. I myself was very distracted by Zalone who did not work well at all with the main character and like I said he was in almost every scene which felt very wrong.
It is very telling that such a protagonist-centered film did not result in any awards recognition for Zalone beyond a song that is in the movie. Thumbs up for Giovanardi and Bergamasco though, they had some solid moment and I especially liked the former, also because of her stunning looks. I cannot deny it. This is what you want your wife to look like after she has given birth three times. So I am really baffled how much Italians appreciated this film. Then again, being seen many times does not equal being a quality film. I do believe that the contents in here, especially the references about contemporary Italy, culture and cuisine, make it more interesting to Italian audiences than to everybody else because we non-Italians may not even get many of the jokes, but I do believe that it is a fairly cliché film. Bastian Pastewka who I quite like could not save it either with his dubbing. Thumbs down from me. Not recommended. And sadly, the success of this film will probably boost a niche of films (maybe even sequels to this one) that really do not deserve to be made.
But the biggest problem was the comedy. There were shockingly few moments that I found really funny and it was so obvious how they tried so hard to make every second scene a funny scene and it became cringeworthy really quickly as some jokes were really far far away from what one considers good comedy. I would say the female actors in here really saved the film on some occasions as they showed some decent acting talent, something I was missing from Zalone from start to finish and this way they made the film watchable at times and also gave it solid directions in terms of drama, emotion or comedy. But even there were moments that just could not have been saved by anybody. It was really disappointing. However, I will admit that some of the audience members in my sitting had a truly great time seeing this film and there was lots of laughter. Oh well.. if you find jokes about chlamydia funny, then go for it. I myself was very distracted by Zalone who did not work well at all with the main character and like I said he was in almost every scene which felt very wrong.
It is very telling that such a protagonist-centered film did not result in any awards recognition for Zalone beyond a song that is in the movie. Thumbs up for Giovanardi and Bergamasco though, they had some solid moment and I especially liked the former, also because of her stunning looks. I cannot deny it. This is what you want your wife to look like after she has given birth three times. So I am really baffled how much Italians appreciated this film. Then again, being seen many times does not equal being a quality film. I do believe that the contents in here, especially the references about contemporary Italy, culture and cuisine, make it more interesting to Italian audiences than to everybody else because we non-Italians may not even get many of the jokes, but I do believe that it is a fairly cliché film. Bastian Pastewka who I quite like could not save it either with his dubbing. Thumbs down from me. Not recommended. And sadly, the success of this film will probably boost a niche of films (maybe even sequels to this one) that really do not deserve to be made.