Great movie...but....

Rating: Null/10 (20 August 2000)

This film is sweet and fun and just about the greatest statement about the strength of the human will to live as I can think of. Roberto Begnini is a great guy and a wonderful slapstick comedian...BUT... am I the ONLY person to notice that Begnini's character is OBVIOUSLY an adaptation of the amazing waiter from the novel 'I Served the King of England' by Bohumil Hrabal??! This Czech novel also shares the statement which Begnini's boss refers to him as "a server but not a servant"...
If someone can find some acknowledgment of Hrabal's brilliant novel please feel free to drop me a line at the email address provided above... i recommend the movie but the book is completely different in many respects. It is about a great (though somewhat deluded) Czech waiter during World War 2 who winds up marrying and having a child with a Nazi German woman which goes sadly awry. But the overflowing optimism of the main character carries him through any and every ordeal... Most of the similarities pertain to the main character who is a waiter in fantastic restaurants virtually identical to Begnini's character at the beginning of this film. I just wanted to bring this up because people who enjoyed this film would most likely enjoy this book as well which sadly is not given any credit by the filmmaker (to my knowledge...)