A Masterpiece!

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Blistering performances.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Even positive reviews of Sorrentino's masterpiece cavill at the lack of an ongoing story amidst the vignettes of 21st century dolce vita. In fact, the storyline is there for those with eyes to see it. It makes its first appearance as Jep stares at his bedroom ceiling which morphs into a blue sea. Unexpectedly, the husband of Jep's first (and only) love arrives to tell him she has died and in her diary she named Jep as her one true love. The image of the blue sea is explained as we see a flashback to Jep (in his early 20s) diving under an oncoming speed boat, watched by girls including the one he falls in love with. Later, in another flashback, Jep recalls their moonlit tryst. It was their love that inspired Jep's first highly acclaimed novel. Since then, he has suppressed the great beauty of their innocent love. But events have conspired to force him to remember and then, and only then, is he ready to begin his second novel. With dry pseudo-cynicism, he says "It's just a trick". We know better.

Ordinary, i really like Sabrina movies as unlike la Bellucci, she stays close to her roots and plays everyday women. But this time, her choice is different and i found this movie totally awful ! It's the same elitist and empty stinker you can find in some American movies (Allen), or french cinema (Ozon). It's about the lives of the wealthy privileged, who doesn't really work, who think socialite life is the best occupation of the world: in spite of their art shows, beautiful mansions, vacations, wardrobes, they are mindless, soulless, heartless to just achieve desire for money and sex ! Those people verify my belief that the upper you are, the less you got values ! Maybe the sets are beautiful because Italy is an old country with a famous heritage but 140 minutes among those ghouls are just excruciating for me, even with Sabrina, playing a meaningless stripper at 51 years old ! What a decadence !

An aging bon vivant celebrates his 65th birthday and receives dark news that brings contemplation of the past crashing into the present. He journeys round Rome, taking in the sights and seeing them anew, reflecting on all that is and that has been. This film celebrates Rome, Fellini, and a hedonistic, poetic lifestyle of an elite, at the same time questioning such excess and throwing up existential challenges for its protagonist. Visually sumptuous and unashamed, the script also has poignant and incisive moments. The protagonist's upstairs, aloof neighbour, at first enigmatic and majestic, turns out to have an all too prosaic backstory. A sniping, corrosive party-dweller is cut down to size by invective delivered with sniper-like precision and calm. This is a film to give yourself over to and indulge in. Nostalgia, lost love, and the wonder of it all: life as a bittersweet dream.

Greetings from Lithuania."La grande bellezza" (2013) is without a doubt the best movie Paolo Sorrentino has made yet. Not only this is his best film to date, this is a one great movie on every account. I was captivated by it from the first frame, which opens on a pretty long party sequence till the very last frame. Yet, this movie isn't for everyone. Those who like clear and plot based movie might find this gem to difficult and even boring. Nevertheless, this is one of the very best Italian movies i have ever seen. Every scene in this movie is done very skilfully and it's just interesting to watch and to listen to characters, especially to our hero Jep Gambardella (superbly played by Toni Servillo), a "party lion", who at 65 starts to have some thought about life and starts to find and see beauty in everything, even the most bizarre things. Overall, "La grande bellezza" (or "The Great Beauty") was a huge surprise to me. Saw it first time just now, i would like to recommend this near masterpiece to everyone who liked great movie simply about life - it's not about plot, it's about moments here and now, the people, culture, even nightlife of some Bohemia of Rome. Great movie.