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Poster for I Vitelloni

I Vitelloni

We are the hollow men in this last of meeting places we grope together and avoid speech. Gathered on this beach of the torrid river.

1953 · 1h 43m · Not Rated Comedy, Drama
Directed by Federico Fellini

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Overview

Five young men dream of success as they drift lazily through life in a small Italian village. Fausto, the group's leader, is a womanizer; Riccardo craves fame; Alberto is a hopeless dreamer; Moraldo fantasizes about life in the city; and Leopoldo is an aspiring playwright. As Fausto chases a string of women, to the horror of his pregnant wife, the other four blunder their way from one uneventful experience to the next.

Director and cast

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes

Top critics, in their words

All reviews
100%
Tomatometer
Fresh

Offers us the rare chance to witness a filmmaker becoming a master filmmaker, as well as the birth of an important relationship with composer Nino Rota.

Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Fresh

What stays fresh (and enhanced by the beautifully restored black- and-white print) is how so many of Fellini's gifts and obsessions are already apparent in this early work.

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post
Fresh

It was this ineffably poignant semiautobiographical reverie that unleashed fully Fellini's shimmering, flowing poetic style.

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
Fresh

One of the screen's great portrayals of the hell-raising and malaise of young men in their 20s.

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Fresh

If you have warm memories of American Graffiti, Diner, Mean Streets or even TV's Seinfeld, you owe it to yourself to see the masterpiece that inspired them all.

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

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