Still Fabulous

The actress is gorgeous and I would not have thought in any need of boosting her self esteem. However I'm a simple male who doesn't understand how attractive women can be made, it seems, to feel inadequate. I thought the blurb about the porn star would make this a bit seedy, and I watched to practice Italian comprehension with the subtitles, and was pleasantly surprised to view a light hearted film about sex - ok, so some of the homosexual bits were a bit worrying - with some quite strong way of putting elsewhere done to death messages across about seeking approval only from oneself.

It was a good try, and made porn seem ridiculous rather than trying to ride on it.

I will start by saying that I love the idea of empowering women and conveying how important it is to accept and love yourself especially with the help of a very unusual guardian angel who is an actual pornstar.

I was really happy to see that it was not another film with a makeover trope but a real "this is who I am and this is more than enough" message.

However it is not great to cast an actress that is very beautiful with a conventionally attractive body to play an "overweight" woman and use a body double for the nude scenes and ridiculous clothes to mimic that said body when they are definitely very talented actress that would fit the description. I find it highly hypocritical and completely against the message.

The story is not really believable (I am talking about the main story not the supernatural elements of crochet doll orgies and invisible friends) and the main character has quite a lot of flaws where she treats other rather badly but never apologises. It's reminded me a lot of Bridget Jones as well.

It's also full is silly cliches and some poor acting from supporting roles.

I think the best part, apart from the overall message, is the unlikely Valentina Nappi who is really great and funny at playing herself and empowering women in the meantime. Without her performance I would have given an even lower rating.

It is a "light" film, but it doesn't deserve a 4. There are way worse movies than that, than coould be predictable but also quite enjoyable if you understand what you are going to see. Fore sure it is not a film for cinemas, but for an evening at home, with pizza, sofa and a comedy, is perfect. Nice soundtracks, the (real) pornostar's parts are so staged and faked to result funny. The message behind the whole plot is nice, the "rules" are valud rules. The thing I didn't like at all were the costumes of the main character, dressed really bad without a reason in the whole film (apart for the fantastic animal sweathers).

Cute film, which flows well among the many laughs. Valentina Nappi's skits were cute and well acted, Diana del Bufalo's mimicry was perhaps a little excessive, after all this is the style with which she is presented in the star system. In the cast, a marginal role for Raul Bova, played well, and an excellent Angela Finocchiaro.

The director's performance is good, even if the plot limps a bit at the end, just when the appearances of the guiding spirit/pornstar cease.

Praise also goes to the costume designer who really had a lot of fun with Valentina's costumes, some very successful and others less so.

Film with a very important double standard: accept your body and always believe in yourself.

No pun intended - it is not easy to just be yourself nowadays. There is so much pressure - even more so with women. It is all about looks - about how you present yourself. And if you do not fit into the current "beauty" standard ... well you may as well bury yourself ... figuratively speaking of course.

Because if you do not have the self esteem, if you let others dictate how you should feel about yourself (and your looks) ... well that will not turn out good for you. Or anyone for that matter of course. The movie may be too on the nose (or other body parts for that matter) and it may be a bit too sexual at times (do not be prude, an adult film star has quite a significant role in this) ... but overall the message is important and the movie is doing a fine job conveying it. I am all for positivity .. cliches included of course ...