Macaroni

After completing LE BAL, a wordless musical history of an Italian ballroom, director Ettore Scola turned to this potentially interesting, dialog-heavy dramatic comedy, which pairs one of America's most successful actors, Jack Lemmon, with one of Europe's, Marcello Mastroianni. Robert Traven (Lemmon), a brash American in Naples on business, is spotted by Antonio Jasiello (Mastroianni), an energetic and eccentric Italian. The encounter reminds Antonio of the past: in 1946, Traven was engaged to Antonio's sister Maria (Giovanna Sanfilippo), then broke her heart by returning to America and deserting her for good. Scola has crafted a potentially wonderful story about no...