I presume the Italians once found all this hilarious and maybe some of the older ones still have a chuckle but I wouldn't expect many of the young or hardly any non Italians to find the antics on display here very amusing. It has to be said that the first segment does look ravishing as a brilliant Blu-ray widescreen picture illuminates tumultuous crowds thronging the streets, the steps and the squares. Whether it is right and proper to so convey a city as poor and desperate as Naples is another matter. The tale itself goes on and on before we slip into another all about cars and privilege and abuse of power (so funny!) and then the final section, which is, at first, not so bad. Sophia Loren on top form and in and out of skimpy clothing, as she is throughout, taunts Marcello Mastroianni, as she does throughout but here we have a young fledgling priest across the rooftop to also tease and maybe introduce to prostitution. But, no Marcello is reduced to a yapping lap dog and the role of abused side-kick he adopts all the film whilst hypocrisy moves into top gear and once upon a time Italians rolled in their seats at such stupidity as their various government officials made various deals between each other and made certain that the people on the streets, stayed there (with a smile on their face).
