Not funny: DRAMATIC!

I agree with you to a point. I saw this movie when it was released (circa 1976 I think). I went to the movies with a friend of mine to watch "Close encounters of the 3rd kind" and it was sold out, so we proceeded to see this one in a small studio room in the same cinema. We were fascinated by it and we actually saw it twice that day.

The film made a lot of sense in that time (as it does, unfortunatelly today) and maybe it was easier for a director than to make such a thing. I dont't see it at all as a comedy, but as a somewhat accurate portrait of reality.

I don't understand why your teachers don't see it. If they don't see it, how do they know thay "can't see it"?

Otaku Ariane said: "I am a person with a very dark sense of humour, and I believe I am very open minded"


NOT REALLY

From now on, Otaku Ariane, I advise you to avoid commedia all'italiana. If you insist on watching Italian movies, clearly you are more the type for "white telephone" movies (telefoni bianci), movies that were made in Italy during the thirties and are all so very, very NICE.

Here is the list of the Italian movies you should never, never watch and avoid at all cost :

I soliti ignoti : nothing funny about misery and analphabetism.
La Grande guerra : nothing funny about the delirious bloodbath of the First World War.
Tutti a casa : nothing funny about the september 8, 1943 chaos that opened as Italy switched sides in the middle of WW2.
Il vigile : nothing funny about the social revenge of a good-for-nothing (Alberto Sordi) who becomes "vigile", that is a road policeman.
Il sorpasso : nothing funny about a timid young man (Jean-Louis Trintignant) being litteraly kidnapped for a crazy car ride on the roads of the Italian economic boom by a selfish, egocentric, dishonest, irresponsible jerk (Vittorio Gassman) who didn't even care to raise his one-of-a-kind teenage daughter (Catherine Spaak).
Divorzio all'italiana : nothing funny about a man (Marcello Mastroianni) plotting to murder his wife because there are no divorce laws !
Il giudizio universale : nothing funny about a man (Alberto Sordi) who sells Napolitan kids for illegal adoption to American tourists.
Il boom : nothing funny about a man (Alberto Sordi) who has to sell one of his eyes in order to maintain his standard of living.
La Marcia su roma : nothing funny about the zany adventures of two fascist morons (Vittorio Gassman and Ugo Tognazzi) on that sadly famous day when king Vittorio-Emanuele III asked Mussolini to form the new government.
La Voglia matta : nothing funny about a 40-year-old businessman (Ugo Tognazzi), estranged from his wife, who embarks in long party/weekend with a bunch of teenagers because he wrongly believes he's got a chance to score with youngish Catherine Spaak.
Anni ruggenti : nothing funny about fascism. But nothing funny about Nino Manfredi? I doubt.
Il federale : nothing funny about fascism (Ugo Tognazzi) versus antifascism (Georges Wilson).
Una vita difficile : nothing funny about an half-courageous, half-coward antifascist freedom fighter (Alberto Sordi) who, once the war is over, goes from one desillusion to the next in back-to-business, let's-forget-everything postwar Italy.
La Parmigiana : nothing funny about a youngish girl from Parma (Catherine Spaak) who just wants to have fun and meet love but becomes a prostitute without fully realising this is where she's going.
I mostri (The Monsters) : nothing funny in those 19 to 20 stories featuring human nature at its worse. Over twenty million of spectators, though. No 2 at the 1963 Italian box office.
I compagni (The organizer) : nothing funny about a miners' strike that tragicomically fails at the beginning of the 20th century.
Il medico della mutua : nothing funny about a doctor (Alberto Sordi) who thinks only of money and exploits the sick and poor to get an even bigger bank account.
La Pecora nera : nothing funny about the story of those twin brothers, one honest and the other a crook, as the honest brother (Vittorio Gassman) ends up in absolute misery while the crook brother (Vittorio Gassman) becomes rich, famous and admired by the entire society.
In nome del popolo italiano : nothing funny about a corrupt, would-be-fascist businessman (Vittorio Gassman) accused of murder by a magistrate (Ugo Tognazzi) who appears to be a courageous, law-and-order straight man - up until there is one more narrative twist all'italiana.
Detenuto in atteso di giudizia : nothing funny about an innocent man (Alberto Sordi) spending five years in prison before even getting an audience on his case.
Per gracia ricevuta : nothing funny about this thirtysomething man (Nino Manfredi) who has been raised in a Catholic monastery after being saved from certain death by a "miracle" when he was a kid, and has now to cope with a society that the monks hadn't exactly prepared him for - to say the least.
Lo scopone scientifico : nothing funny about a billionnaire and her secretary (Bette Davis and Joseph Cotten) playing cards for money with slump city people (Alberto Sordi and Silvana Mangano) who live in not funny misery.
Pane e cioccolata : nothing funny about an ordinary Italian immigrant (Nino Manfredi) who tries to adapt to Switzerland and tragicomically fails.
Profumo di donna : nothing funny about this army officer (Vittorio Gassman) who has become blind and lost his left arm in an accident and believes it entitles him to treat everybody like *beep*
Amici miei : nothing funny about a bunch of fiftysomething men (Ugo Tognazzi, Philippe Noiret, Gastone Moschin, Diulio del Prete, Adolfo Celi) acting like a bunch of teenagers and making all kind of absurd and cruel jokes at everyone else's expense.
Brutti, sporchi e cattivi : nothing funny about the misery - both material and moral - of this Roman slump city family (who judging from the dialect once immigrated from the Mezzogiorno). Especially when the head of the family is played by satirical star Nino Manfredi !
Un borghese piccolo, piccolo : nothing funny about this small, ordinary man (Alberto Sordi) who becomes a kind of neofascist vigilante after his son is murdered by a terrorist's lost bullet.
I nuovi mostri (sequel to I Mostri) : a complete collection of not funny episodes depicting human nature at its worse, hence the title. To be avoided particularly : the sketch where two nouveau-riche-looking parents litteraly sell their teenage daughter to a pornographic movie producer.
Il giocatolo : nothing funny about the self-defence psychosis that seizes an ordinary Italian man (Nino Manfredi) and leads him to become a trigger-happy monster in the context (just like Un Borghese...) of the Years of Lead.
Primo amore : nothing funny about this 61-year-old third rate comedy actor (Ugo Tognazzi) who has no other way to survive than to get into an old-people State house where people are treated like *beep*
L'Ingorgo : nothing funny about a traffic jam that lasts two full days, giving the satirists a tragically good occasion to picture humanity at its worse.
Caffè express : nothing funny about a poor Napolitan man (Nino Manfredi) who has to sell coffee illegally on Italian trains in order to make a living.

Etc, etc, etc.

Stick to White Telephones, Otaku Ariane.

Please quit film school now. The film world is drowning in mediocrities who want to make more Wonder Bread for the screen.

The mean problem, in my opinion, is that the dialogues, written by the great Sergio Citti in pure roman-ghetto-slang, can't be properly translated into English without losing most of their strength.
I'm from Rome, last time I watched this masterpiece I put on english subtitles, just to see, and I felt sorry for foreign viewers who will miss how hysterically funny some scenes are, with their memorable bits of slang.
Actually I understand that, without it, the movie may look only dramatic.
That said, I totally agree with the people above: if you don't like a ferocious self-critic of the Italian way, don't watch classic "Commedia all'italiana". You'll miss a lot but it's your choice.
I'm very proud of how Italians once had the guts to point our fingers to our tragedies, and deal with them with black humor. It happened long ago, now it's all different, Italy is different. What a pity...

It seemed more an allegory, for the country of Italy. Just as there are too many living in the house, too many poor people in the country. Meanwhile the government, like the father, doesn't help the people, but just buys itself whatever it likes. The people try to revolt against the government (poisoning), but it doesn't work and some get punished. A very old story.