It’s an especially fun movie from a director and cast who are clearly having a good time allowing themselves to let loose.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

The Dogme 95 manifesto was a call for a return to a naturalistic style of film-making; but the first film made according to its principles, Lars von Trier's 'The Idiots', was a playful attack on every convention of film in spite of its basic technical nature. 'Italian for Beginners' is more like what one might expect a Dogme film to resemble, if one hadn't seen 'The Idiots' first: a portrait of everyday life, told without artificial over-embellishment. And it works. On one had, this is a story of the misery of lonely people living in a grey northern town; on the other, the shape of a potential happy ending is visible quite early on. And yet there's something believable in the performances, as well as a sly sense of humour, that enables the movie to transcend its modest proposition and genuinely warm the heart, a story of ordinary people regaining their confidence in life after hard times. If every film was like this one, you might find yourself longing for a bit more ambition; but in a world full of empty noise, it's nice to see a movie whose director seemed to care about making his film ring true.

Italian for Beginners is a superbly directed film in the stylistic tradition of Dogma 95 productions; an anonymous director, the on location sets, and the natural acting create a bare cinematography where the story begins in the very routine lives of six individuals from a small town in Denmark, whose lives intersect at church, in the restaurant, at the hotel and in school. The film quietly plucks these characters off the streets- out of their disparaged mundane environments- into a classroom in hopes of learning something new.Love begins in a neglected classroom, where the couples gather to learn Italian and experience a hope of something greater than their own misfortune. The comical harshness of the over-zealous Finn as their instructor foreshadow their determination to find something from these lessons as they repeat lines together about love and how to be in love. Finally the streets of Venice offer a rich reward for the couples who now have the opportunity to practice what they've learned. A low-lit restaurant in Venice offers new beginnings for the couples that share a very common meal but with a new hope for their lives together. The mundane, disparate, somber tone of the dogma is lifted into a beautiful cannon of what love can be.

After reading the main review posted on this movie's page I was forced to register and write a more realistic review. This film seems from both the quality of presentation and acting, to have been made on a shoe-string budget by amateurs. The writing, acting, and overall feel of the movie left so much to be desired. Don't waste your time or money on this crappy movie. The characters were pretty difficult to relate to, not because of geography but largely due to the moronic nature of the script. The story was not believable and too many coincidences took place, making the whole thing more farcical than I'm sure the director/producer intended. The sex scenes were weak, poorly placed and simply not believable again. Too many things are wrong with this movie. The main thing they got right was hyping the movie well enough to ambush people like me into seeing it. Next time instead of waiting for a crappy movie to improve, I'll simply just turn it off.

I'm a fan of the Scandinavian cinema and especially of the Dogme-films. I like their way of filming an honest story in a believable way without too much extra's. I'm sure that the average viewer will not like it at all, because they just don't understand what it is all about. You don't get one murder after the other, no big car chases, no extreme violence, no gore... It's the characters and the story around them that has to save the movie, and that's something most people don't seem to get. But when you are like me, you watch several movies a week and keep an open mind towards all kinds of movies, other than the average Hollywood blockbusters, than this is definitely a form of cinema that you have to try.The story in "Italiensk for begyndere" or "Italian for Beginners" as the movie is called in English, evolves around the lives of several inhabitants of a quiet community somewhere in Denmark. All characters meet each other during a beginner's course in Italian and use it as a way to meet new people in the hope to forget about their own personal problems, to find new friends and - when possible - to find love.If I'm honest, than I must say that I didn't like the movie all that much at first. I'm already familiar with Dogme-films, but this one really looked very amateurish and awfully edited and filmed, even for a Dogme film. It even made me doubt if I would be able to keep watching it until the end. But I decided to stay with it it and I must say that I'm glad that I did. The movie has some other qualities that only show when you stay with it long enough. The story for instance is nice. It combines some humor with good drama and with heartwarming romance. And no, it never gets syrupy or over-the-top. It all feels genuine. Another positive aspect, next to the interesting story, is the acting. Even though I've never heard of most of them, all actors did a very nice job, making me wish to see more of their work.In the end this is a nice and heartwarming movie, but I wouldn't call it the best Dogme-movie ever. That certainly doesn't mean that it isn't worth a watch, but I'm convinced that even the fans of Dogme will have to agree with me that it looked quite amateurish. That's also the reason why I believe this isn't the best movie for people who aren't familiar with this kind of movies. If this is the first Dogme-movie that they will see, chances are big that they will never try another one. Still, I had a good time with this movie and that's why I give it a 7/10.