AllMovie

Overlooked and underrated, Avanti! may be late Billy Wilder, but it still sports his inimitable touch (even with the uncharacteristically salty language and nudity). Scripted by Wilder and longtime collaborator I.A.L. Diamond, Avanti! covers familiar Wilder/Diamond comic territory with its story of uptight rich American Jack Lemmon finding more than he bargained for, particularly in the person of overripe Brit Juliet Mills, while on an emergency trip to Europe. Sardonically clear-eyed about the compromises of life and romance, Avanti!'s love story is also sweetly wistful as Lemmon and Mills reenact their parents' Italian pas de deux, complete with a humorous skinny dip at dawn. Wilder keeps it all moving with aplomb, yet takes the time to let the glorious Ischia locations work their seductive charms. Clive Revill provides superb support as the scheming hotel manager, while Pippo Franco's one scene as an Italian coroner elevates bureaucratic efficiency to an art form. Though not as renowned as such prior Lemmon/Wilder/Diamond classics as The Apartment (1960) and Some Like It Hot (1959), Avanti! is well worth a look.