Checco Zalone’s return to the cinema has all the characteristics of the event. For the wait, because it is the longest cinematic break the actor has ever taken: five years of absence after “Tolo Tolo”, released in 2020 (in between there were: a theater tour, an album with Francesco De Gregori and a series of songs that continued to parody our present such as “L’ultimo giorno di patriarchato”). For expectations, because Checco is, in itself, an event, regardless of the circumstances, since it holds the four highest grosses in the history of Italian cinema (look at the ranking at the bottom to believe it). And then, for two other reasons. The first: in the new film, “Buen Camino” (out December 25), Checco returns to work with Gennaro Nunziante, the historic director with whom he created his greatest successes. The second: for the first time, the film is not produced by Taodue and Pietro Valsecchi, but by Indiana Production, Medusa Film, MZL and Netflix. In short, given all these premises, the question is inevitable: is the film worth it?

Everything suggests that Zalone knows well the symbolic “weight” of his return. In recent weeks he has in fact given only one interview to the press, without looking for too many opportunities for promotion, and instead focusing everything on word of mouth (as well as on a video message to unified networks broadcast on Mediaset channels, the same as Medusa: something exceptional). In fact, expectations translate into anxiety for him, he explained, tensely, in the press conference (“The judgment of young people scares me a lot”, he admitted), so much so that he avoids the most prurient questions of journalists to often leave the floor to Nunziante. This is why it is therefore necessary to decontaminate oneself fromhype before expressing a judgment on the film, which would otherwise appear distorted.

The plot

The result, once the euphoria has been put to the ground, is the following: Checco Zalone is back, but a little less ferocious than usual and a little more “good”. “As befits Christmas,” someone says. His comedy, which continues to be the best on the market, focuses this time on the parody of a very rich man: an heir who has done nothing to deserve the millions he has in the bank and who is completely incapable of managing them; just think, for example, that he named his daughter Cristal, in honor of his favorite champagne, and that he spends time immortalizing his Filipino waiters while dancing on Instagram, to the delight of his followers. A character who, in short – as Selvaggia Lucarelli’s always punctual intuition pointed out – seems like the transfiguration of Gianluca Vacchi, including the young South American girlfriend.

There is only one problem, however, in her carefree life: Cristal, despite her sparkling name, does not want the “8k” bag that her father insists on giving her, but a backpack to set off towards Santiago, in search of a spirituality far from so much materialism. And it is here that Zalone’s scathing style dissolves into a more mellifluous plot than usual, with her father following her along the streets of her spiritual journey.

“The Camino de Santiago will become a journey of getting closer to a daughter he had never considered,” explains Zalone, who continues: “It may seem like a pandering theme, but there is something from my real life: I have two daughters aged 13 and 10 and, with the eldest, there is starting to be a conflictual relationship.” Nunziante echoes: “We wanted to investigate the relationship between parents and children, we wanted to think about man, about what a man is today”.

Ok, but so, are we laughing?

In short, after “Tolo tolo” – the film on immigration with which Zalone wanted to try to “conquer the left-wing intelligentsia”, at least according to a venomous Pietro Valsecchi (soon denied by Zalone himself) – Checco returns to his origins. “Buen Camino” is a relaxed comedy, perfectly suited to the relaxed nature of the holiday period and the family audience it is aimed at. Compared to the exceptional touch of the first films, however, it is more in line with predictability. Of course, there remain the immediate lines that are a candidate to become the classic Zalonian catchphrase (“the Madonna sees everything, she is like yellow flames”) and the clean style of the director remains, in the space of a Christmas entertainment that, for some time now, has put the sheeple of cinepanettoni behind it. In short: you will laugh, you will relax (“Zalone is more relaxed than Lexotan”, Adriano Celentano said some time ago), even if in a less cutting and innovative way.

“Buen Camino” is the new film by Checco Zalone: ​​plot, when it comes out, cast, trailer

A less ferocious Checco

The point is that, this time, Zalone places his traditional “mask of the dullard” on the face of a “Scrooge”, but then immediately shifts his attention elsewhere, too quickly. In fact, at the beginning of the film, the parody of Checco-Vacchi – with giant statues in the house and super-yachts – is irresistible. It’s a shame, however, that all this healthy cynicism softens as the journey progresses. Along the “path”, precisely, revealing a Checco who is more lenient than usual, both towards his model – the Scrooge – and towards us, “common people”, who this time are “satirized” a little less (if it weren’t for that “small” detail: having given undeserved attention, and undeserved social envy, to undeserved millionaires).

Having said that, the reflection between superficiality and authenticity remains engaging for everyone, especially after the years we have behind us: narcissistic, overexposed, and at the mercy of the usual undeserving influencers. And, we repeat, it is worth going to the cinema to get your own idea and a few laughs.

Pre-sales are already skyrocketing, it will be a two-hander with Avatar

They return to the presentation, outside the room the journalists’ predictions are scattered. The audience is that of great occasions: no one is missing anymore. “It’s useless to be hypocritical, we expect to cash in,” Zalone explains to the press. Who will deal with Avatar: at the box office it will be a game of two, the others have all run away. Some say it will gross more than “Tolo Tolo” (the highest grossing film in the history of Italian cinema in the first 24 hours), some say less. Someone even ventures a figure: “35 million”. But bringing everyone back to earth, together with their dowsing skills, is Alessio Zuccari, colleague of Today and one of the best young film critic on the market: “When Zalone is involved, the critics’ judgment is completely irrelevant,” he says. In the room, meanwhile, there are rumors of pre-sales already sold in shocking quantities: it is confirmation that Zalone is a symbol of unconditional trust, that people go to him with their eyes closed. “James Cameron will have to wake up wondering who the fuck is this Zalone?”, concludes the owner of the house with a paw.