Just short of truly awful

Rating: 3/10 (16 January 2000)

My comments are these:
1. Roberto Benigni (Guido) was so obnoxious that after 10 minutes of his crazed antics I was hoping the statue in the main piazza would topple onto him.
2. It's asking for too much suspension of disbelief to accept that the beautiful Dora would even speak to, much less fall in love with, a pestering boob like Guido. Nowadays she'd be seeking a temporary restraining order (TRO) against him in court. Back then, she'd probably have had a beefy brother tell him to buzz off.
3. Many people have condemned "La Vita è Bella" for its saccharine portrayal of Auschwitz. I have to say that, unlike some of the critics, I think it's OK to experiment with different artistic interpretations of the Holocaust, even comedic ones. But because of the horrific nature of the Holocaust, employing comedy to interpret it is going to be an exceedingly difficult endeavor. In trying to do so, "La Vita è Bella" fails completely.
4. If you want to see an outstanding Italian movie about fascism and Italian Jews, I highly recommend "The Garden of the Finzi-Contini" ("Il Giardino dei Finzi-Contini"). Now that film is an artistic achievement.
5. "La Vita è Bella," by contrast, is a dud, and I cannot believe that it won an Academy Award, or that it has garnered so much praise on this site. I suspect that it's just another bad film (along the lines of "Last Tango In Paris" or "Henry & June") that appeals to people who consider themselves highbrow but aren't. I gave it a 3 out of 10.