I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

A real masterpiece by Benigni and Troisi. The plot is very simple and there are no special effects. However, what earns this book a place in history books is the outstanding acting performance of these two comedians. You can see from the beginning that most of the sketches are improvisations; their acting is so natural and clean. The reason why it did not gain international recognition is because it cannot possibly transmit the same emotions with with subtitles. Translation becomes nonsense in a movie that is so culturally-bound. I wish I could recommend it to everybody, but I must say that you really need to understand Italian plus some Neapolitan and Florentine dialect in order to appreciate it in its entirety. Besides, you also need to know a little bit about the culture and history of Italy. In Italy, this was, is and will always be an outstanding piece of art.

One of the best Italian comedies after the great cycle of the Sixties/Seventies, the film's greatest assets are its leads, Roberto Benigni before his Oscar days and the late, greatly missed Massimo Troisi.In this time-travel comedy the two main characters are magically transported to 1492. Saverio (Benigni), school teacher and history buff unhappy with his previous life, is ecstatic and strives to exploit the situation, while meek janitor Mario (Troisi) is terrified by violence, fanaticism and lack of hygiene.Benigni is hilariously vital and overbearing, jumping around as if hit by 10.000 volts; Troisi is priceless as the whiny, dejected fish out of water.The first two acts crackle with wit and inventions. The best moments occur when Saverio and Mario start exploring the town, the former pompously strutting around, the latter inching his way through the streets. There is a great homage to the letter scene of Totò, Peppino e la... Malafemmina, and a clever bit where the two ponder which modern inventions they could produce and desultorily conclude they could maybe manage to craft some sort of rudimentary toilet.Unfortunately, after a memorable encounter with an unexpectedly thick Leonardo da Vinci, the movie loses a bit of its comedic momentum - although the very ending is a stroke of genius.8/10

Great premise. Great writing. Great acting. A must for fans of both actor/writer/directors who acted in, wrote and co-directed this delightful fantasy. Who has not imagined what would have happened if the Europeans, in this case Christopher Columbus, had no interest in finding the new world or even a new route to India? It's a joy to watch these two men at work. Too bad it's not available in English. In any case, it's worth watching on DVD, so you can pause and replay until you get the subtleties of the writing and the performances. American producers have remade a number Italian classics and neo-classics (often botching the job). However I hope that somewhere within the US film industry there exists a producer/director/writer team capable of making an English language version of Non ci Resta che Piangere without losing its heart. If not, it just gives the rest of you yet another reason to learn Italian. Fair warning though. Troisi is not so easy to understand for those not somewhat used to hearing la lingua italiana as spoken in the outskirts of Naples (San Giorgio a Cremano).

Sadly, the only occasion we had to see together two of the best italian actors of the century: Benigni and Troisi. Anyway, it's a comedy: there's nothing else to do, but laugh.