Overrated, weak, and not very funny

Rating: Null/10 (3 May 1999)

i love benigni- i thought the monster was an absolute hoot. and i am not averse to the idea of a comedy set in a concentration camp, but the complete lack of realism in the camp scenes bugged me. yes, it's a fable and does not need to be totally real, but in order to set a film in a concentration camp, there must be SOME sense of threat or danger or horror and this film has little if any. i went to a summer camp with tighter security.
those who call this the most powerful film experience they have had need to see some real masterpieces (a la "the bicycle thief") and those who say this film really makes you think have apparently never truly been stimulated to think by a film. though the first half of this film was truly wonderful, it peters out into a phony, weightless, ultimately unimportant film that was the most overrated of last year.