So much average

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The Dogme 95 manifesto was a call for a return to a naturalistic style of film-making; but the first film made according to its principles, Lars von Trier's 'The Idiots', was a playful attack on every convention of film in spite of its basic technical nature. 'Italian for Beginners' is more like what one might expect a Dogme film to resemble, if one hadn't seen 'The Idiots' first: a portrait of everyday life, told without artificial over-embellishment. And it works. On one had, this is a story of the misery of lonely people living in a grey northern town; on the other, the shape of a potential happy ending is visible quite early on. And yet there's something believable in the performances, as well as a sly sense of humour, that enables the movie to transcend its modest proposition and genuinely warm the heart, a story of ordinary people regaining their confidence in life after hard times. If every film was like this one, you might find yourself longing for a bit more ambition; but in a world full of empty noise, it's nice to see a movie whose director seemed to care about making his film ring true.

The first part of this film portrays very grim reality with a forthrightness not often experienced in a non-documentary film. It is a relentless cavalcade of death, either shown or described. Spoken, about wives who have died in terrible ways; shown, parents who die in miserable circumstances. And a teacher dying in front of his students. All in the first half-hour. And, to be sure, extremely powerfully and expertly filmed. And then a fairy god-mother shows up, a nurse who conspires and covers up the euthanasia killing of one of our main character's mother. And this leads to revelations and relationships that transform the stories of our characters to the never-land of movie happily-ever-after. It is all extremely well written and performed; contrary to other critiques, the so-called "low production values" work very well throughout. The euthansia-girl, Karen, is especially well acted and believable throughout. And attractive, in a very real sense, with a blemished face and all. The happy-ever-after fantasy of the last part of the film can be looked upon as a catharsis, or just candy for the masses, or the way lives can be pulled up from the depths. It all can work, if a viewer wishes. But it is the unrelenting and honest depiction of real-life misery in the first part of the film that gives the film its real quality and qualifies the film as an important achievement.

This is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding romantic comedies at the beginning of the decade. A Dogma 95 film, this movie exemplifies the challenges put up by the group of film makers that created Dogma 95 in Copenhagen. DOGMA 95 counters the individual film by the principle of presenting an indisputable set of rules known as THE VOW OF CHASTITY. The rules (10 in all) include principles such as: shooting must be done on location (scenes in Venezia) and on a sound stage used to rehearse Sound of Music--an auditorium where the Italian classes are held. Music should not be used unless it occurs where hte scene is being shot (how refreshing not to have Hollywood scores interrupting the natural sound). Hand-held camera-- this produces a feeling that you are doing the filming yourself. I felt that when Andreas was swimming in the hotel pool. Special lighting is not acceptable -- again the auditorium and the lights. Or the restaurant lighting. The characters in this movie are so real one feels you have met them before. You can read the plot elsewhere if you haven't seen this movie. There are pairings in this movie that show romance at its best -- forgiveness for the foible (Olympia was probably born with fetal alcohol syndrome-- Andreas understands this and near the end when he suggests she sing in the church choir, he suggests they prepare for her falling over into the pews. Giulia's budding love for Jorgen Mortensen is a treat -- little prayers in the kitchen -- and rehearsal for the big moments. This movie even treats impotence with the gentleness and humor and understanding that the best of life can deal. Perhaps most erotic is the scene where Karen washes Hal-Finn's hair in her salon -- ummmm! Not enough can be said about this movie. So to cut it short -- go see it -- watch it several times. A magical experience awaits -- where real people with real foibles find real connection.

Life in a dull Danish provincial town is only partly enlivened by an Italian night class.This is one of these newfangled movies ("Dogma" for those in the know) where the whole thing is captured on video camera, lighting is natural-and-available and all music has to come from a visible source on screen.Here we have camera work so wobbly that it looks like the cameraman has been taken by surprise by some of the action - either that for the director (Lone Sherfig) doesn't know the Danish phrases for "cut" or "let's go again - the cameraman wasn't ready!"We are in a Mike Leigh world of small people with flaws trying to make a life in difficult circumstances. There seems a lot of deaths, but in this grey world you can almost call them mercy killings!Finn is the marginal lead character (just ahead of the young new pastor) as he is both the coffee shop manager - for a while at least - and the stand-in Italian teacher after the original teacher has a heart attack in class. Given that he is fluent in Italian already you wonder why he needs to attend in the first place, but maybe it is the social scene that interest him?While you may knock the grade Z production values it tells a lot of truths. The main one is that life is nothing but a string of embarrassing moments played off against small moments of pleasure or diversion.