Despite the the presence of three Oscar-winning actresses in its cast, "Tea With Mussolini" is still one of those films that disappears from your memory once you leave the theater. But it didn't have to be that way.
This lackluster comedy/drama is drawn from the memoirs of filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli, who grew up in World War II-era Florence. And while that sounds like it would make an interesting movie, what turns up on the screen isn't all that interesting.
For one thing, Zeffirelli and screenwriter John Mortimer (creator of "Rumpole of the Bailey") have populated the film with too many characters and crammed it full of too many plot developments. That ensures that the film's most interesting situations aren't explored fully.
Also, while there was some early fingerpointing at "Life is Beautiful" from some critics who felt that film treated its subject matter too lightheartedly, "Tea With Mussolini" makes it look like a hard-hitting documentary by comparison.
Zeffirelli's youthful on-screen counterpart is Luca Innocenti, a boy born out of wedlock who is not recognized by his father, an Italian businessman. Instead, he is raised by a group of eccentric women, known as the "Scorpioni" because of their biting wit.
The ladies — Brits Mary Wallace (Joan Plowright), Arabella Delancey (Judi Dench) and the haughty Lady Hester (Maggie Smith), as well as a pair of Americans, adventuress Elsa (Cher) and archeologist Georgie (Lily Tomlin) — conspire to teach Luca how to be "a perfect British gentleman," despite the growing threats to their freedom from Italy's fascist movement.
But their good fortune doesn't last forever. Once England declares war on Germany and Italy, the Scorpioni are treated as "enemy aliens" and imprisoned, leading Elsa and the now-teenaged Luca to resort to desperate measures to ensure their freedom.
Admittedly, that is a promising story germ. But as mentioned, there are too many characters and situations to explore in two hours — at least in any degree of depth.
Also, Mortimer's script inserts one-liners in the place of more realistic dialogue too often — sort of like a Neil Simon play, but with even less emotional resonance.
Performancewise, the cast is fine, though Dench and Tomlin do stray toward hamminess at times and newcomers Charlie Lucas and Baird Wallace (playing the adolescent and teenage versions of Luca, respectively) aren't given enough to do.
"Tea With Mussolini" is rated PG for scattered profanities, wartime violence (gunplay and explosions) and glimpses of nude artwork, as well as some brief male nudity.