If you're as lucky as me, for a little less than 2 hours you'll suspend your judgment on things and let yourself in for a pleasant ride through the themes that have obsessed humanity for ages just like if you were enjoying a 2 chord love pop song. Once you adjust to the cliché-ridden cinematic language, you develop the necessary antibodies to enjoy this film. As for the recurrence of the theme (mismatching ages in couples) one can say that the way it's dealt with it's in itself a blow to the notion that chronological age coincides with personal evolution. And, I believe films are a great means to delve into this very fact, which society in general discredits. Even more so considering the film successfully stays away from the moral debate and controversy, maybe portraying a very strong willed young lady that one wouldn't for a minute feel was being deceived or coerced into a relationship with an older man. The characters are satisfactorily amusing, and humor in general does spice up the flow of things in general. The fact the film is Italian and not Hollywood is a definite plus, at least for the change.

The ending, mildly unanticipated, spares us from the typical lecture on sensibility and maturity and gives way to a praise of passion we all need to see. To conclude, although making a list of cinematic and narrative atrocities would be far too easy, I feel this film's perk is that you can really enjoy it in full awareness that none of it bares much resemblance with reality.

I couldn't really find one word with which to sum up this movie. I would opt for predictable, but aside from the ending, I personally was not able to predict the direction (or deviations)of this story. Similarly, the words 'Sappy' or 'Cliche' cannot be so easily applied to this movie due to one huge, contributing factor in the story: the age gap between protagonists. 'Scusa Ma Ti Chiamo Amore' or 'Sorry, If I Love You' tells the story of one 37 year old man who has been left by his long-term girlfriend. Through a series of events, he encounters a 17 year old girl. The two are both very much attracted to each other and after mere days of meeting, begin a relationship. The relationship is more than just mutual lust, and the two soon become a somewhat unconventional but very much committed couple. If you remove the age gap between characters, this movie does become a very boring and 'been-there-done-that' cliché. But it's not. It's a sweet story of an unconventional relationship (which may have been shocking years ago, but now seems to be becoming socially acceptable). It's also a cute and at times genuinely funny flick to pass the afternoon with. I would recommend this as a light, albeit very interesting story with a somewhat unoriginal story line which is made unique by various twists and turns.

There are a large number of characters moving in and out of the story brought to the screen, and directed by Federico Moccia. Having been given the DVD as a gift, we tried to watch it a few times, but could not get into it. Finally, we decided to persevere, basically on the strength of Raoul Bova's performance, and it turned out to be a mildly pleasant experience, although one wonders what made it such a hit when it first made it commercial debut in Italy.

The idea of a May-December romance is not exactly new to the movies. In fact, Hollywood is notorious for pairing its aging male stars with younger, luscious newcomers to some excellent results. "Sabrina", "Love in the Afternoon", "Gigi", "Funny Face", just to mention a few, as well as other films, exploited the possibility of an older man falling for women that could well be their daughters. Never quite understood the allure for the mismatched couples other that the aging male stars needed vehicles in which to show they were still desirable and could perform in bed. Of course the comparison is a bit extreme because in this film, even with the age difference, Alessandro and Niki make a nice couple to look at.

Mr. Moccia's story centers around an advertising executive, Alessandro Belli, being dumped by his live in companion, Elena. Confused about being left alone, he avoids the idea of falling in love again. A traffic accident involving Niki, a teen ager in a motorcycle, serves as the excuse to have them meet. Alessandro is aware of the attraction, but he fights it. For Niki, obviously the older man presents no problem. Niki, a liberal minded young woman, has no problem seducing the reluctant Alessandro, in spite of the twenty year age difference.

The comedy is mildly amusing. Mr. Moccia manages to keep things moving around at a good pace. The only question in our mind is how permissive the parents of Niki can be. The new generations of youngsters, all over the world, seem to be able to do what they want, if one is to believe the way the parents of Niki are so self involved in themselves, not to notice how their daughter's affair with the older Alessandro is not exactly what they wanted for her.

Raoul Bova is an accomplished comedy actor and his presence is always welcome. Michela Quattrociocche is a beautiful newcomer to the Italian cinema. Both were reunited by the director in another film we have not seen, but it might be a sequel, based on the popularity of this film in its native land.