The Monster (VHS, 1997, Original Italian; Subtitled English)

The rubber-faced Roberto Benigni, Italy's most beloved slapstick comic, stars in THE MONSTER as Loris, a bumbling con man whose everyday activities consist of shoplifting from the local supermarket and preventing anyone from buying the apartment he is squatting in. Suspected of being a vicious rapist, he is seduced by a voluptuous female cop (Nicoletta Braschi, Benigni's wife in real life) who hopes to overstimulate his sexual urges and catch him in the act of committing a crime. A comedy of misidentification like Benigni's box-office smash JOHNNY STECCHINO, THE MONSTER features Benigni doing his best imitation of the innocent everyman pioneered by Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Whether it's dropping a cigarette down his pants or dealing with an out-of-control chain saw, Benigni is all arms, legs, and statically charged hair. Once censured by the pope, Benigni pushes the edge in risqué scenes with his wife, who spends much of the movie gamely thrusting her pelvis and chest in front of Loris. THE MONSTER is a great introduction to a comic whose jokes, it is said, contributed to the downfall of an Italian prime minister.