Reviews

Voglia Matta is virtually lacking in any redeeming qualities, apart from occasionally competent if uninspired cinematography. Aside from Tognazzi, the acting is substandard and even he seems to be going through the motions. The characters and motives of nearly everyone lack credibility, and none are likeable or sympathetic much less amusing. The scenarios are beyond absurd, unintentionally. The gang of adolescents are extremely grating - some middle-aged writer's idea of what today's spunky youth (ca. 1961) probably kind of ought to be like, with a double helping of casual indifference towards others. The scene of Spaak forcing Tognazzi to careen at high speed down a small winding road, threatening dozens of people's lives in the process, is treated as a grand and clever jape. And that's about the highlight of the film. Almost every comic gag falls flat. It's hard to see why even a contemporary audience was supposed to find humor in a 39 year old father repeatedly pawing a 15 year old girl.

If the film can be said to have had a purpose at all, it was to show off Catherine Spaak's beach body. That is the one thing it managed to do.

The older, positive reviews of this film are puzzling. It is one to avoid.

The cinematography is more than capable, but that's almost the only virtue of this film. The plot is nearly non-existent, and everything revolves around sexist tropes. The most disturbing of these involve the female lead seeking a relationship with a man who can treat her with respect, only to go back to a nasty and violent former boyfriend who seems to have no positive qualities. The film's 'happy' ending involves the two male leads (in their 20s) deciding to stop treating each other's 15 year old sisters as children and instead start dating them. This is probably the least likeable Italian film of this era I have ever sat through.