Romanzo Criminale (2005)

Self-important, over-dramatic, uninspired.

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

I am watching this in a film class at university. Have seen only part of it, so far. I have studied Italian language, and could pick up some words in this Roman dialect -- and am happy that there are English subtitles (though "ing" is replaced by "in'", as in "Lucy, you've got some 'splainin' to do," lol).All the actors seem believable in their parts. The women are beautiful. Gorgeous Cinzia enjoys making that money! So what if all of these men are too stupid to stop throwing all that beautiful money at her!! Libano-Lebanese is dedicated, if devious. His demise is cruel and abrupt, but they say that what goes around comes around. The police detective cozying up to Cinzia and using her sensual pleasures to get information on our bad guys was just too odd yet delicious. Who's the real manipulator here?? Flashback: early in the film, the Italian-language-singing children are out joyriding and up to no good. Out the car door goes someone they are tired of. At least, that's what I thought. The children grow up, to be wannabe 'dangerous' criminals. Then the laughs begin; some parts of this movie are actually funny. The bad guys actually have hearts of gold. The problem is that they have to have gold in order to live, and not one has education or a real type of employment. Mayhem ensues! Fast car lovers, pay attention.Some events stand out in my recollection: Robbery of Baron Rosellini, and then doing away with him; making him look alive for the newspaper headline photograph plus kidnapping ruse. Blowing up the train station was ultra-genius, at least in the minds of the criminals. The maimed/mutilated victims of the explosion were gruesome and vomitous to view, and the scene really looked real. Kidnapping plot against the president was insane, yet ended in the poor man's demise.This movie has sex, violence, gambling, prostitution, money-grubbing and arguing among thieves, not to mention friendship and loyalty. Where is Mother Church in all this? Does She approve of all these ruinations of the lives of young people? Will she receive their prayers to be forgiven for their wasted lives in order to welcome them into Heaven when they surely meet their what-goes-around-comes-around predictable demise? I thought all those Italians were good Roman Catholics. Trouble is, the God of Ill-Gotten Money, Drugs, Violence, Murders, Hookers and Fast Cars is fighting for the attention of the poverty-stricken, uneducated children of Mother Church.Where is the singing and dancing in this movie, that you readers know I like so much? Well, singing is here, in the early part of the movie. There is a nice soundtrack. As far as the dancing goes, maybe it is found in the dodging of bullets, or better yet the dancing around of the knife in the back or through the abdomen. UGH. Remember that these are all actors, and blood-guts-gore are fake, and also remember that the characters' lives are a dance-to-the-death in order to, oddly, stay alive as long as possible. They need to tap dance like Mr. Bojangles. 10/10

As the history of modern (1970-95) Italy plays out - the kidnapping of Aldo Mora, the Bologna bombing etc. - a ruthless gang of outsiders are successfully muscling in on Rome's lucrative drug and gambling rackets. Meanwhile, a hard-nosed detective is tracking their activities, seeking evidence to put them away. And lurking even deeper in the background are State black ops figures who may or may not be manipulating both the criminals and the events themselves.I was expecting the sort of cheap crime exploitation movie that proliferated in Italian cinema back in the 70s, but this is a different, much more ambitious and better type of movie. Crime Novel is structured very much like an Italian version of American Gangster. It has the same intimate yet gritty feel, the same long slow story arc, playing out over years against a background of world events; the dedicated cop who seems like the only police official who sees his duty as catching criminals rather than taking bribes; and drug dealers who see themselves as businessmen providing a service rather than villains, and most of time they are. The focus is clearly on the gang. They grew up together in the streets. Crime and friendship are what holds them together. They have strong loyalties to those closest to them but can be ruthless to those who oppose them. Individually, they have frailties, but together they are formidable. The script is structured to provide each of the central characters with plenty of screen time, and its strong dialogue and intimate tone create very multi-dimensional and mostly sympathetic portraits.The resulting movie is very watchable and a worthy companion piece to movies like Carlito's Way, Scarface and American Gangster. Recommended.

Great gangster film, which I believe owns partly its success to the fact that it's adapted from a book inspired itself by a real 70s-80s gang (Banda della Magliana). The ambiance of the late 70s - early 80s is well reproduced, especially thanks to the choices made for the original soundtrack. The unorthodox relations between the gangsters and the police are here. As are the relations, not more orthodox, between the gangsters and the political world (the official as the extremist). The whole thing depicts finely how this decade was shady. It is also an interesting picture of three young men with such a desire of freedom and independence and such a feeling of impunity that they are just precipitating their death. Especially forgetting to use an intelligence they however have. They much make me think to Mesrine: same rage, same cleverness, same violence, same dark period and same use of so called political ideals to give free rein to their violence.

I confess I'm not Italian and don't really have a grasp on the historical significance of the 70's in Italy though I read Moravia's A Time of Innocence (I believe that was the English translation title) and liked it. The movie looked like it was made in contemporary times and the few references to the 70's were confusing as nobody looked like they did in that period. Given that, I loved the style, color, photography and editing and found the plot absorbing and the actors great for the parts. I haven't seen the extended version, don't know what it includes, but would like to, since I was never bored for a minute and it could have been longer as far as I was concerned. Kim Rossi Stuart was great, as were the other members of the 'band', though yes, he seemed out of his element playing a 'cold-blooded' killer. But his sensitivity and decline at the end worked for me. The other guys were great, as was Anna who played Patrizia. She was pretty stunning to look at and believable - when she was on the screen my eyes never wandered. The movie reminded me of Soavi's Uno Bianca in its hypersensitive style, which I loved, though Romanzo wasn't as tight or as suspenseful, I guess. And it wasn't scary either like Soavi's Ultima Pallottola. I don't know if it makes me shallow or what, but I liked the glossy, model feel of the movie a lot. Like I like Soavi's work. For my eyes it was a cinematic feast. Its apparent failings pointed out by other reviewers as a faithful adaptation of the material about the times didn't so much matter to me as I don't know that much about them anyway. I just enjoyed the movie as if it were taking place today and I think others like me might too.