The Night Before the Exams (2006)

Who payed the critics

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

If this movie was Spielberg would have had more. Since these strontium on the assumption that a film must be beautiful to be directed by big names like Spielberg, Lucas, Jackson, Cameron. .. All these assessments are wrong you understand the level of bad opinion of this site. Only films for intellectuals can be saved. This film was produced with many dollars and the optimal use of special effects make the place as among the best science fiction film Americans. Finitela of using double standards when judged as a movie, try to be objective because they give 3.8 a film of its kind and reward a crap how terrible sin city with 8.2 is really a 'offense.

*Night Before The SPOILERS* June 1989, last day of school.Young Luca (Nicolas Vaporidis), who has just ended his final year of school, decides to reveal exactly what he thinks of his former professor, Mr. Martinelli (Giorgio Faletti), nicknamed 'Carogna', and just a second after finds out that he is going to be the head teacher at the 'Exams' of the title, the 'Esami Di Maturità', Italian High Schools' Final Exams.Obviously, Luca despairs he's ever going to pass them, and to add insult to injury, he falls in love with a girl called Claudia (Cristiana Capotondi), who he met at a party neither of them was invited to... and who he doesn't know is none other than Martinelli's daughter! In the meanwhile, there are plenty of problems for his friends, too; other than the exams, of course; one of them sleeps with his girlfriend's younger sister (twice!) and gets his girlfriend pregnant, another one smokes a lot of pot, and decides to do a clandestine sell of (potential) titles of essays which will be given at the Maturità, and the only girl tries to give a hand whenever needed... and to hide her crush on Luca.We meet also Claudia's friends, one of which has not been deemed able to do the Maturità, and her family... and her boyfriend Cesare, a compendium of bad traits if there is one (so much that his girlfriend writes to him 100 reasons why she has decided to break up with him).And as the Maturità approaches, all the stories come to an end...'Notte' is a breath of fresh air for the Italian Cinema, a movie made just to be enjoyed; not forced, and characterizing teenagers as people, instead of the usual 'oversexed' image.One of the reviews described it as 'the Italian Breakfast Club'; and I agree, because despite the 1980s setting, even someone who, like me, did his Maturità only three years ago, can relate to those characters; everybody has been a Luca, fell in love with a Claudia (only to lose her to a Riccardo, or been an Alice, loving but silently, in fear of rejection. Everybody has done some stupid things like Massi, and I dare everyone to say they never met a 'Carogna' during their studies.All I can say is, thank you Franco Brizzi for this beautiful movie.Notte Prima Degli Esami: 9/10.

It will make you laugh, it will make you dance, it will make you nostalgic, it will make you ponder, it will leave you energized. This Italian comedy, which deals with a bunch of teenagers about to graduate from high school, in the summer of 1989, is rich in rhythm and amusing situations. Scene after scene, the protagonists have the uncanny ability of getting messed up in situations more and more embarrassing: their spontaneousness and impulsiveness is infectious... and you as a viewer will quickly sympathize with them. It's also impossible not to feel a bit melancholic, when you watch the protagonists playing Subbuteo and the Commodore video game Emlyn Hughes International Soccer and you listen to music from the 80s (great soundtrack, though foreign viewers of this movie may not be able to appreciate how well it mingles with the story). Furthermore, the views of Rome are mesmerizing. Inevitably, the movie deals with the problems in the relationship with adults and teachers, but always with the lightheartedness that's proper of teenagers, as they easily shift their mind from one problem to the next one. "Notte prima degli Esami" may not leave you spiritually enriched or wiser but, quoting professor Martinelli's words, "sometimes the important thing is not the result, but the road you undertake to reach it"... and, under this point of view, the movie certainly was an entertaining ride for me! 9/10

First of all, and just to put all cards on the table, this movie is nothing exceptional, nor an outstanding masterpiece... it is simply a nice movie on a lot of classic problems teenagers are facing when passing from adolescence to adult age. And if you are getting close (or just entered) your thirties you will absolutely enjoy a lot of reference to the late 80s music and way of life because one of the best ideas they had when writing the screenplay has been to move the story back of about 25 years. And notice the performance of Giorgio Faletti as the high-school teacher, he is a nearly perfect mix of comic and tragedy. Definitively worth a view!