'Big Deal After 20 Years' starts off with a brief clip of the final frame from the first film, 'Big Deal on Madonna Street'. Tiberio at the end of that one was heading to prison as a free man to pick up his kid who was visiting his inmate wife. I haven't seen the second one but this one, the third and last one, starts with Tiberio getting ready for his release. He's determined to go straight when Peppe, from the previous movies, tries to draw him into a scam involving sneaking contraband money across the border to Yugoslavia. In addition to Tiberio and Peppe, Ferribotte (who now lives with his overbearing daughter) and Tiberio's Wife are the only others from the previous films. Tiberio is also introduced to a doctor who is the son of Dante Crociani (the equipment supplier in the first movie) but instead pinches an elderly patient's cheeks saying 'I remember you when you were a little boy' before being corrected. That's the type of humor this film has when it has any.
The first 25 minutes involve Tiberio's release and discovery that his wife is now with a big furry guy paying the rent and she sold his photography equipment. So Tiberio sleeps in a Peugeot junk yard where his house used to be. To make money he steals flowers from a cemetery but they instantly wilt when he tries to sell them. And then he meets with his mopey son who tells him he's not into women but when asked if he's ever slept with a man he states 'Never!' Tiberio changes his mind and tries to get Peppe to take him into his currency trafficking plan, even dressing as a woman to try and fool him. Peppe's been running a low-level poker game out of a dive motel and sleeps on a cot in the bathroom. After Peppe gets sick, Tiberio spearheads the "plan" and the movie turns into a minor road trip flick. And I lost interest. Nothing much really happens and there aren't enough bits of good dialogue to carry it. They travel with a young single mother with a crazy ex and an old woman who watches soap operas all the time.
There wasn't much plot, humor, character development that made any sense, or general reason why this film was made. My attention wandered many times but all the same it's not terrible. There are some cute moments but sometimes it's too silly and others too dull. I tried to watch it removed from the fantastic first film but it didn't help much. The end is incredibly nonsensical with a pointless murder abruptly leading to the credits rolling and it summed up my feelings about the movie pretty well. What was the point?
The first 25 minutes involve Tiberio's release and discovery that his wife is now with a big furry guy paying the rent and she sold his photography equipment. So Tiberio sleeps in a Peugeot junk yard where his house used to be. To make money he steals flowers from a cemetery but they instantly wilt when he tries to sell them. And then he meets with his mopey son who tells him he's not into women but when asked if he's ever slept with a man he states 'Never!' Tiberio changes his mind and tries to get Peppe to take him into his currency trafficking plan, even dressing as a woman to try and fool him. Peppe's been running a low-level poker game out of a dive motel and sleeps on a cot in the bathroom. After Peppe gets sick, Tiberio spearheads the "plan" and the movie turns into a minor road trip flick. And I lost interest. Nothing much really happens and there aren't enough bits of good dialogue to carry it. They travel with a young single mother with a crazy ex and an old woman who watches soap operas all the time.
There wasn't much plot, humor, character development that made any sense, or general reason why this film was made. My attention wandered many times but all the same it's not terrible. There are some cute moments but sometimes it's too silly and others too dull. I tried to watch it removed from the fantastic first film but it didn't help much. The end is incredibly nonsensical with a pointless murder abruptly leading to the credits rolling and it summed up my feelings about the movie pretty well. What was the point?
