Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I loved Habemus Papam. It has a highly original plot and it takes place in a highly unusual environment. Papal elections does not sound as an intriguing movie setting, but the film is captivating. Who could have thought that 200 elderly men all dressed in the same way could be so entertaining?! But they are! The casting is excellent; everyone has a face and an individuality. I am especially thankful for the casting choice for the lead character, played by the great Michel Piccoli, and "il portavoce", played by my favorite Polish actor Jerzy Sztur (I was so happy to see him inhabit an Italian movie screen so comfortably). Michel Piccoli's presence expresses perfectly the humanity and the philosophical aspect of his character. And Jerzy Sztur lights up the scene as a perfect comical actor.And yet despite its unusual setting, the film deals with the classical plot of a person out of his own element. And as in every mistaken identity story, the journey into the unknown turns out to be a journey to oneself. You leave behind the familiar and you find the indispensable. Here, the Pope incognito roams the streets of Rome and gradually learns something important about himself.At the same time, as Pope enters Rome, Rome enters Vatican. This happens through introduction of laypersons into the sanctum sactorum of Vatican, such as the psychologist (who brings with him not only atheism, but also the ball game) and the Swiss guard officer (who introduces the cardinals to the popular music).I liked the nice small touches throughout the movie, like the fact that the Pope had a dream of becoming an actor in his youth (just like John Paul II), or the Chekhov's play Seagull serving as a pivotal reference on realization that you might have wasted your life, or the imperturbable portavoce losing his face and cursing in Polish… In general, it's an elegant comedy that combines philosophy with laughter and offers life's wisdom that not only Popes will find useful.P.S. And speaking of Popes, Benedict XVI resigned a year after this movie was released, so

This worthwhile film is a comedy the way Romeo and Juliet is: both have some funny moments, BUT...The production values are high and the arcane court ceremony of the Vatican is recreated meticulously--much better than in "The Shoes of the Fisherman". This is as close as most of us are ever going to get to a papal conclave.More remarkably, writer and director have shown realistically the human side of this powerful, devout, celibate world. The cardinals are depicted in all of their enormous ethnic and cultural diversity, as well as in their frailties and strengths, not as a bunch of holy joes but as real people struggling as best they can with huge responsibilities. Yes, some smoke, and they are capable of playing pick-up ball games.The character of the cardinal who is elected, and accepts, but then has a breakdown when cannot face assuming the job, seemed implausible to me at first. After all, he has spent a lifetime assuming larger and larger responsibilities--and he could have said, "No."But it slowly dawned on me that his otherwise unexplained name, Melville--unusual for someone apparently Italian--holds the key to the movie. When his corpulent frame is vested in his papal robes, he is the great white whale depicted by Herman Melville in Moby Dick, and this movie is that story told from the whale's perspective. As Ahab was obsessed in pursuing and catching the whale, this pope frantically tries to escape from the persona that will eventually lead him to his death.

A few days ago, I watched Prometheus, and found it such a revolting stupid waste of time, that I created my account here only to warn anyone from committing the same mistake; Now, unhappily, I have to add this HABEMUS PAPAM to the "what-a-waste-of-time-and-money" list...Just like Prometheus, what starts out as a very well made film, with impressively credible imagery, costumes, ambiance etc., and generates very high expectations, COMPLETELY loses track, and becomes an utterly meaningless and pointless waste of time, with an INCREDIBLY bad ending.When the movie begins, we see the election of the new pope, almost unanimous...a man with a gentle and humble face, and we expect he will lead the church into a glorious new path of renovation...but then, as he is being announced to the crowd, he screams and runs off to his chambers saying he just "can't do it". Would he had killed himself, or thrown himself off the balcony, it would have been far better for us viewers...With this unrealistic but interesting premise, we are enticed into expecting "what an interesting situation, let's see the pope as a normal man", the movie then shows the church calling in a psychologist to help him out of his crisis...the 1st encounter is comical, with the shrink and the Pope surrounded by cardinals...At this point, still anticipating a good story, our expectations change, added by the anticipation of comedy, of funny situations, something akin to "King Ralph"...but then, then...the movie DIES. The plot simply STOPS. For the next hour and 20 minutes, we see the pope running off into the streets, mumbling to himself, as lost as the storyline...NO deep insights, NO FUN whatsoever, NOT ONE interesting or deeper dialogue, he just hangs around a group of actors, one of whom is insane (a feeble and witless attempt at showing catholicism as a fraud?) so completely lost as to border insane. To think this sorry excuse of a mature man might have been a cardinal is simply unbelievable.Oh yes, and all the while back in the Vatican, the shrink is doing...NOTHING. He plays cards and - VOLLEYBALL(!!!) with the old cardinals. He DOES NOT meet the pope again, don't be fooled by some "plot summaries" around.In the end, as lost and whiney as before, not one iota the wiser, the pope returns, and gives his 1st speech to the crowd: "I'm not the right person, sorry everybody, I'm not up to it." And walks away back into the room. THE END. WTF??? He does NOTHING a normal man would - he does not resign, he does not appoint a successor, he does not warn the cardinals he wants to resign, he simply punches the whole of Christendom in the face with a "I'm sorry" whimper. And the college of Cardinals, portrayed as a bunch of mindless aging old men fit for a nursery home, lets him go through to the end. The leaders of a 2000 year old organization act like a collective bad case of Alzheimer's...I'd rather they'd poisoned him the night before and chosen another cardinal than watching that absolutely implausible "plot".A COMPLETE waste of time, money, scenery, everything...and between Prometheus and this one, I've wasted quite a lot of my time and patience as well.Learn from my mistakes, keep away from these dumps, and please wish me luck, I'm trying to find a good movie to recommend, but it's not being easy lately.

Despite being called a "comedy", the Italian Hangover this is not. Its far more a drama than it could ever be a comedy. I don't know the religious implications of the film, nor the accuracy of what it portrays and I don't care. I could enjoy the film without any of that but it was just such a struggle to get through. It felt so long and the pacing of the film was brutal. Its actually a shame because the movie had a very moving lead performance, a very sad undertone, emotions running high and a little bit of fun mixed in where the comedy was supposed to be. However, many of what was supposed to be considered "funny" felt forced and thrown in for no reason. This would have made a far better drama and when you go into it with the understanding that its a comedy, even a dark comedy, you have certain expectations. I stayed with the film as hard as it was at times simply because of the lead character. I had to see the pay off, I had to see where it would end and I guess that's worth something that I wanted to see that. The good news is that the ending was very good. It was sweet and emotional and well done. The movie can be visually impressive but not enough to wade through the sluggish story.Veteran Italian actor Michel Piccoli gives a moving and devastatingly emotional performance as the newly elected Pope. He is just so full of very real emotions. He has incredible charisma on screen and did such an amazing job. He was absolutely the highlight of the film and is the reason for what scoring I give this. Nanni Moretti is the Psychoanalyst they bring in to try and help the Pope overcome his anxiety about his new position. Moretti is good and despite some descriptions of the film saying this is about the new Pope and his relationship to his therapist, they have one or two scenes together and that's it. I would have liked to have seen Moretti get more depth to his character. The supporting cast who play the Cardinals and the Pope's support staff, are all decent but none of them really stand out from the others. In fact they are all very similar and show the same facial expressions and emotions throughout, so you'll never really know who is who because they are basically the same character multiplied.Moretti who plays the therapist also co-wrote and directed this film. It is well shot, visually very nice, and I quite enjoyed an inside look at The Vatican even if it was just a fictional account of the place. The story drags all of the positives down because it is simply too slow. While the new Pope explores his love of theatre, the Cardinals and the therapist play Volleyball at The Vatican...yes its that strange. I would have rather focused solely on The Pope's story and the interesting people he encounters that helps him come to terms with his new position. Although the ending is heartfelt and moving, it also is sort of unsatisfying in that none of the story leads up to how it ends. Sadly I want to really root for this because it is unique but I just had to try far too hard to get through it. 5/10