Avanti! (1972)

81% of critics liked it
(16 reviews)
71% of users liked it
(3,110 ratings)

This enchanting yet dark romantic comedy stars Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills as a pair of mismatched lovers helplessly drawn into a series of seemingly hopeless but humorous situations as in Lemmon's The Out-of -Towners two years earlier. Lemmon is Wendell Armbruster Jr., an overbearing American… More This enchanting yet dark romantic comedy stars Jack Lemmon and Juliet Mills as a pair of mismatched lovers helplessly drawn into a series of seemingly hopeless but humorous situations as in Lemmon's The Out-of -Towners two years earlier. Lemmon is Wendell Armbruster Jr., an overbearing American business tycoon forced to travel to the beautiful Italian island of Ischia to claim the body of his recently departed father. What begins with a rather elementary premise evolves into a succession of somber twists and turns, as Armbruster meets Pamela Piggott (Mills), the daughter of his father's mistress, who, Lemmon is appalled to learn, died alongside Armbruster Sr., while zipping through the Italian countryside in his sportscar. Even worse, the family who owns the vineyard that his father's car crashed into has stolen the bodies in exchange for damages. Although plagued with a plethora of such problems, as well as an inability to enjoy life (and the ulcers to prove it), Wendell eventually falls in love with Pamela, almost exactly as his father did with her mother. ~ Don Kaye, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: R, 2 hr. 23 min.
Directed By: Billy Wilder
Written By: I.A.L. Diamond, Samuel A. Taylor, Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond
Genres: Drama, Romance, Comedy

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1972 Wide
On DVD: Jul 15, 2003

Critic Reviews

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Avanti! isn't a laugh-a-minute kind of a movie, and it's too long by maybe half an hour.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
This 1972 release is the most underrated of all Billy Wilder comedies and arguably the one that comes closest to the sweet mastery and lilting grace of his mentor, Ernst Lubitsch.
A.H. Weiler, New York Times
Intermittently funny, charming, cute and, unfortunately, over-long.
Tony Macklin, Bright Lights Film Journal
There is a lot of Billy Wilder in [Avanti!], including the idea that age is a state of mind. The film doesn't all work, [but] when the rigid Armbruster warms up on a sunny rock,... Wilder is telling us something that is more than just fun.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Wilder justifies this film's length (144 minutes) with its loving, carefree and even relaxing Italian vacation atmosphere.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
A delightful romantic comedy, Billy Wilder style, meaning that its romanticism is curdled and its comedy is amusingly dark.
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
Marvellous performances from Lemmon and Mills.
Steve Crum, Video-Reviewmaster.com
Weak Billy Wilder is worth a watch.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
It has many delightfully absurd moments in which Jack Lemmon and Brit actress Juliet Mills thoroughly exploit to the fullest.
, Film4
A biting farce about an American in Italy, this gets great comic mileage out of Lemmon, Mills and the Mediterranean, but Wilder seems uncertain whether he's laughing with or at his protagonists.
Dan Lybarger, Nitrate Online
It's not vintage Billy Wilder, but even lesser Wilder has wit to spare.
David Parkinson, Empire Magazine
Gentle and touching satirical drama with Lemmon on form but without much bite.

Read all 12 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Lady D

Avanti! is the first Jack Lemmon film that I was slightly irritated by, it's incredibly drawn out and could have been condensed to a much more watchable length. The actual plot of the dark comedy is quite a funny situation, but isn't as good as other Lemmon films.
AJ V

Another funny comedy with Jack Lemmon falling in love in Italy. Again he is directed by Wilder, and the result is a good comedy. If you're a fan of either of them, check out this movie.
Byron B

Another one of the many films Wilder made with Jack Lemmon. Lemmon is a high strung American executive always in a hurry and unable to understand the Italian way of slowing down and enjoying life. He goes to an Italian island to collect his father who died in a car accident. His… More
Another one of the many films Wilder made with Jack Lemmon. Lemmon is a high strung American executive always in a hurry and unable to understand the Italian way of slowing down and enjoying life. He goes to an Italian island to collect his father who died in a car accident. His father died with his secret mistress beside him. The daughter, Juliet Mills, of the woman has come to the island from England to collect her mother too. Lemmon learns of his father having a mistress from her and from the hotel staff. Everyone at the hotel including Clive Revill, (now an Italian) the manager of the hotel, knows that the affair had been going on for a month every summer for ten years! Lemmon struggles with these facts he never knew about his father and deals with many humorous complications in arranging to take his father home to a big media covered funeral while keeping the affair a secret. All the hotel staff think the younger couple look like his father and her mother, so of course a romantic situation develops. Armbruster Jr. (Lemmon) says he's hip enough to realize there's nothing wrong with a one night stand, or even many short affairs, but a long-term affair like his father had, that's cheating on his mother. Hhmmm!? Miss Piggott (Mills) wants to make the point that their long-term affair was based on love, that they could enjoy life and be happy in Italy, and that it was beautiful. She suggests they be buried side by side on this Italian island where they were happier. Miss Piggott eventually helps Armbruster Jr. learn a bit of Italian and enjoy life. When a servant knocks at your door in the hotel to clean your room and asks "<i>permiso</i>," you can answer "<i>avanti</i>," or "come in," "your permitted." It is by this little play on words that Lemmon and Mills realize they are in love. Lemmon's character has a wife at home too, but the film ends with these two new lovers basically promising to meet each summer on this island like their parents did. It was a colorful quirky movie, but when you think about it the message is that infidelity isn't that bad.