AllMovie

Writer-director Stefano Reali adapted his play Operations (staged in the UK by Alan Ayckbourn) for this comedy-drama. Unemployed medical grad Massimo (Valerio Mastandrea) is hired by medical authorities to uncover a scam. He poses as an injured soccer player and shares a hospital room with Luigi (Antonio Catania), confined to a wheelchair after four years of operations gone awry. Luigi is in cahoots with hospital staffers who charge fees to find hospital space for waiting-list patients who have cash. Massimo and Luigi become friends as Massimo slowly gets a handle on profiteering opportunities amid institutional bureaucracies.