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I finally caught Life is Beautiful after all the Oscar hoopla and I must admit that this is THE most overrated film I have ever seen. It was manipulative, dumb and completely inane. I think the Oscar voters must have been comatose when they voted for this film. How it can even be considered for Best Picture is beyond me. If Spielberg had directed this film he would have been crucified. Even the comedy bits were hardly worth chuckling about. The characters were all underdeveloped and all caricatures. Sure you may say that this is a fable, but a fable without believable characters is crap.
Benigni is a good comedian but how he managed a best actor oscar (see my comments of Oscar voters above) shows how badly the Academy needs to be shaken up from their slumber. Sure he is charming but surely that is not a good enough reason to laud him. Everyone who has seen th film came away disappointed. Lets cut the crap and view the film for what it is, a piece of fluff. That playing of the gramaphone scene was a rip off of the Shawshank Redemption. Talk about originality. Some critics have praised Benigni for his "balance" of drama and comedy in this film. I think he has failed on both fronts. It is neither funny as a comedy nor engaging as a drama. Cinema Paradiso was a much better Italian film. I felt cheated and angry when I left the theatre.
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