Grossly mistaken identity provides the impetus in this Italian farce. Loris is an anti-social fellow with a high sex drive. During a party he is pointed towards an "easy mark." Unfortunately he approaches the wrong woman. When he discovers his mistakes, he nervously apologizes for the attempted liberties. A run-away chain-saw becomes involved and the frightened woman ends up filing a police report. Her report leads police boss Frustalupi that he has finally found the crazed sex killer the "Mozart of vice" whom Frustalupi has hunted for the last 12 years. Situations go from bad to worse as the police begin surveillance upon Loris whose every action becomes misconstrued by them. Things get even stickier when they put policewoman Jessica on the case as undercover bait. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Review by All Movie Guide
All Movie Guide
is neutral about it.
Those wondering about the origins of the comic first act of
Roberto Benigni's acclaimed
La Vita E Bella (
Life is Beautiful) need look no further than
Il Mostro (The Monster) for a taste of his slapstick sensibilities carried through an entire picture. This breezy farce, in which an ordinary fellow (Benigni) is mistaken for a mass murderer, demonstrates Benigni's knack for physical comedy and manic self-expression that extends back a lot further than his memorable Oscar acceptance speeches. It's also clear, especially in scenes where Benigni walks along in the squatted position, mimicking a rare posture disease as a means of evading the police, that the actor/director was inspired by the great silent comedians. Giving an equally deft performance is
Nicoletta Braschi, Benigni's wife and frequent collaborator. Perhaps because of its slight subject matter,
Il Mostro did not reach a wide audience outside of Benigni's Italian homeland, where it was quite popular. Considered as a forerunner to
La Vita E Bella -- and taken in conjunction with the fact that Benigni had starred in frivolous fare like Son of the Pink Panther --
Il Mostro helps contextualize why
Bella was considered such a mature accomplishment for a filmmaker who had specialized in broad comedy. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide