I put it off for four years...

Rating: 10/10 (16 March 2003)

In 1999, I had a first date with a boy who had that day seen this movie. Having finally seen it, I'm mortified that I might have expected him to discuss anything else that night. Based on the most recent reviews here, it's obvious that this movie is no less susceptible to the law of diminishing returns as any other. Many expected brilliance and report the film's flaws.
At the risk of perpetuating this syndrome, I'll give my honest opinion. I put off watching it until a bottomless Netflix account rendered me defenseless. I reluctantly sat down to watch it, expecting a movie as predictably foreign and bleak (Think Himmel über Berlin, Der (1987)) as a Kevin Costner movie is moralistic and bland.
By the end, I was honestly contemplating how lesser filmmakers sleep at night. I'm no expert; I only know what I feel. And how rare it is to be surprised. Vita è bella, La (1997) will surprise you, with both its brilliant in-jokes and its unparallelled (not a hyperbole) sadness.
Jen -- Still Honest-to-God-insusceptible to glurge. No, really.