The Little Devil

1988 Italian comedy

Rating: 14/20

Plot: A priest exorcises a demon from a woman only to have said demon mess up his plans.

I'm not apologizing for my love of Roberto Benigni. There's something about his manic brand of comedy that appeals to me. And with a score from Evan Lurie, a role for his brother John Lurie, cinematography from Robert Muller, I figured I was in for a treat with this.

And things started out really well with Walter Matthau as the straight man to Benigni's hyperactive and mischievous demon character. I was convinced that there was a subtext to this comedy with Benigni's titular demon representing self doubt, fear, and a loss of faith. When this was just Benigni and Matthau, I thought this worked really well.

But ironically, it loses its fire and brimstone around the time when John Lurie's character pops up. That's the part of the movie that Benigni's future wife, Nicoletta Braschi, also pops in. I like her. She's got an allure, and she's probably not wearing undergarments, and that's all I really need. Benigni spends a lot of time in this movie staring at her crotch, and I imagine that's what convinced him to marry the actress.

A few of the gags in this seem like they either take forever to set up or go on for a little too long. Benigni has some pacing issues with his comedic bits. Still, this has a lot of humorous moments that make it worth watching if you're a fan of what he does or enjoy looking at his hair.

I wonder why Roberto Benigni never appeared on the Fishing with John show.