Ma che ci faccio qui! – What the Hell Am I Doing Here? (2006)

Directed by: Francesco Amato | 92 minutes | comedy | Actors: Daniele De Angelis, Paolo Sassanelli, Chiara Nicola, Alina Nedelea, Francesco Brandi, Emanuela Ungano, Gianfranco Barra

The title is catchy and promising. Director Francesco Amato releases his first feature film under the translated English title: ‘What the Hell Am I Doing Here?’ The film is a lively comedy that tells of the enterprising boy Alessio (Daniele de Angelis). With verve and eccentric humor, director Armato pits two very different layers of Italian society against each other in this story of Alessio’s rather unconventional summer.

The film style is known through fast camera work and ditto editing. The storyline in the film is simple. Humor is clearly paramount, at the same time this has led to a story that has little depth. It all remains superficial and the various role patterns are highly stereotypical.

Because he failed his final exam, Alessio is sent to a summer school by his father as punishment. Having set his sights on a big tour of Europe with his friends, his plans are now shattered. His friends go on a trip without him. He decides to flee the parental home and takes off on his moped.

During his trek, he ends up in a run-down second-rate seaside resort where he finds a job as a waiter and helper in a run-down beach pavilion. The operator of this beach pavilion fully corresponds to the stereotypical role such a man is expected to have. Type of unshaven man, a little scavenger who lights everyone up a bit, but is still a rough husk white pit.

The further storyline is concentrated on all kinds of complications surrounding this poorly running beach pavilion. The regular visitors all conform to the caricatural figures they are supposed to be. It remains a superficial story with a comedy-like overtone. The landlord is pinched off by the landlord. The landlord’s secret agenda is the demolition of the beach pavilion and the development of a lucrative project. These developments make the story very transparent and that the further course also becomes very predictable.

Alessio falls in love with a girl who also works in the ministry there. Together they ultimately help the operator in his fight against the landlord. With the help of the friends gathered by Alessio, the beach pavilion is converted into a hip tent and after a dazzling opening with a band it eventually becomes a ‘cool’ beach pavilion. These entanglements surrounding the beach pavilion run continuously throughout the story.

The core of the story, and at the same time the positive undertone in the film, is that everyone can deal with their frustrating past. The message is that everything can go differently than you planned, which ultimately also applies to Allessio’s friends who turn out to have made a very different journey than they have all planned for a year. Ultimately, a new future shines on the horizon for all individuals. This means that an ending in which ‘that ends well, all’s well’ has become a very predictable outcome.

Daniele de Argelis’ playing as Alessio is convincing. The role of his girlfriend in the beach pavilion is also well fulfilled. The rest of the characters are stereotypical. As a youth film, the film will be satisfactory, given the problems it contains and the way in which the young cast manages to deal with this successfully.