Framed! A Sicilian Murder Mystery

I used to have respect for Italian films in general, and Italian comedies in particular. The story is silly and forced and brings the term contrived to a new level. The acting is at the level of a drama club in middle school. The characters are so caricatural that they even stop being funny. Not just the main characters who behave like kindergarten kids, but the people surrounding them. Just an example, one of the main characters is lactose intolerant and his mom, out of love tries to convince him to eat a lot of cheese. A clown show in a circus may have more depth and artistic value. It is neither comedy (we cringed more than we laughed) nor detective story (we were not intrigued to find who did what for a single moment) Typical Netflix film that does not represent the value of the cinema of a certain country (Italy in this case)

My family and I enjoyed both seasons of Incastrati. Heck...I still re-watch all of the episodes of the show. The Italian comic duo of, Ficarra e Picone definitely had me rolling in every scene and their wacky situations. The series was so funny and very entertaining. I wouldn't mind a third season, but they have solved the case of Padre Santorini & his racket. I still can't get enough of this show. Mind you I am not Italian, also never been to Sicily, and I am trying to learn the Italian language. I understood the jokes very well since their language is similar to Spanish. Even though Netflix's has the language option to select in English, but I always keep it in its original language Italian. I would recommend anyone to watch this show. It will definitely have you rolling in laughter. Loved the performances, plot, setting,thrills, and humor of it. So this why Incastrati deserves the 10 stars I gave it. The only thing that surprises me is that I don't see that many great reviews of this show, or even higher amount of ratings.

I watched this entire 2 season Sicilian comedy because 3 of my grandparents came to America from there and I very much enjoyed my visit to Sicily a few years ago - although I like one of the main characters can do without ricotta cheese! I also like hearing the Sicilian language which in this series is clear and well spoken. The plot of Incastrati (Framed) is quite intricate - never a dull moment. At first I was expecting a comedy in the American sense but soon decided the label "comedy" is meant in the Shakespearean way, i.e., "Framed" ("Incastrati") is not a tragedy - all's well that ends well. If you enjoyed the tv series "Monk" about an obsessive compulsive detective you might like Framed as well - a dedicated homicide detective (Agata, as in Agatha Christie perhaps?) searches for "the guy" while a meek bachelor and his feisty partner who run a small repair business together realize their romances keep going wrong. The twosome don't repair anything but they do keep their heads above water while surrounded by endlessly menacing trigger-happy Mafiosos. I was rather surprised about the plot with all its complexities but glad I watched to the end - a well-crafted mystery set in stunning locales.

This is a story about a couple of TV Repairmen, somewhat reminiscent of Laurel and Hardy, who accidentally get mixed up with the local mob and wind up smack in the middle between the mob family and the coppers. It's never not a comedy though, but still takes the plot seriously enough. So, no one turns into a horse (a L&H reference). However, there were a couple times I thought they went a bit too silly. I'm not Italian, have never been to Sicily, and do not speak the language. I understood the jokes just fine, so not sure what the other reviewers were talking about. The subs seemed accurate as the words matched the character's tone and body language. Overall, this was an enjoyable watch. Now that I know this is a comedy duo, I plan to watch more of their work. A well-deserved 7* is my rating.

Usually I'm not a fan of our local productions, as (nowadays) they are a mix of bad and poorly executed. This... this I had to recommend to everyone I know. Ficarra and Picone are often fun, and here they shine! Their characters are lovable stereotypes, with the supporting cast also having good characters, and I connected a bit with Salvatore when, early on, he talked the ears off his friend by telling him about the latest episode of his favorite show, just to get complaints about having gone on for the whole morning, and that was just the first 5 minutes! I have a bit of that habit too. Anyway they get into stupid amounts of trouble, all easily avoided by having common sense, and meet characters that can only be described as "picturesque" like Useless Thing and the rest of the local mafia, or the journalist. All very humorous. Speaking of humor, I like to watch things with subtitles enabled, and can say that here (at least the subtitles) the jokes and humor is translated well enough into English, and that's important! All in all I enjoyed both seasons, plenty of laughs and all of that with a decent plot to keep it together. It's not Coliandro, but hey, not everything can be that good.

First of all, it is best to watch with original audio and subtitles as the dubbing, even though of high quality, cannot grasp the full nuances of Italian speech and manners. While this may not be the greatest comedy you've ever seen, it's still a source of 6 hours of pure joy and relax, away from the day-to-day life and worries. And this is the main purpose of TV comedy and something that deserves to be appreciated by the viewers. Of course, most of the story line revolves around improbable situations and absurd decisions - if you have watched any other comedies from South Europe, you already know the concept. Just sit down and allow your imagination to dive into this exaggerated reality, and laugh - you do it all the time with fantasy series, with comic-based movie universes, don't be too demanding just because you're watching places that really exists and are not enhanced by CGI ;) The series makes use and has fun with so many Italian/Mediterranean stereotypes - grown men still living with their mamma, mamma always cooking too much food and fearing it won't be enough, overly gallant italianos in track suits, a mafia boss that loves cooking, shops that do not give receipts, pseudo-philosopher journalists and so on. However, the series also surprises us with denying some stereotypes and showing us that modern Italy is just like the rest of the world - there are people that eat quinoa, there are fake and fabricated news, there are lesbian women who are, still, devoted Christians. The ending of the second season also makes a very important tribute to the Italian police, to the clean officers who refused to subject to the mafia and dedicated their life to catching even the most dangerous criminals that drowned in blood entire villages and families. I am not sure if the ending was shot before or after the events of January 2023, but what we see in the series is exactly what we saw in the news - the authentic joy and relief of the entire Sicilian community about the end of "an era". As a conclusion, the show is a well-crafted mix of pure comedy, funny stereotypes and anti-stereotypes, and a few serious topics for the aftermath. Maybe overly dramatic in a few occasions... but it's Italy, after all, you can't expect any other way ;)

The first season starts off a little slow but the more you watch the better it gets yes it feels like a good old school drama satire comedy (but not dated rather old school style) all the small jokes gags and stereotypes all the characters personalities and etc hit just right the story is simple but the writing and acting is excellent goofy and exaggerated to just the right degree and we're talking about more then humor and drama the writers even manged to squeeze in some dept moral/philosophical questions which do no feel shoehorned or forced and in general the series is quite subtle in many ways while having a blatant style to it so excellent overall underrated in my opinion.

Is it stupid? Yes. Is it ridiculous? Yes. Is it far fetched? Yes. Will you laugh your butt off? Yes!!! A totally hilarious romp that will distract you from what's going on in the rest of the world.

I LOVE Italian comedy. Much funnier than most junk on American TV, where they say a lame joke, then there's a laugh track. Italian comedy moves at a much faster pace.

Personally I had to stop to watch it on episode one. It started ok and while we got used that comedes today have to have at least one dumb character, here was a situation where both characters are like a caricature. If you like B quality than this is ok. For me personally I loved Inspectore Montalbano and though it's not the same genre if you compare it quality wise, this show is 3 levels below. Or the movie Tre uomini e una gamba is university level compared to this elementary school. Paolo Sortentino should hold a master class so this kind of series don't end up on places we pay monthly a lot of money but some TV stations that have this kind of content as business as usual. Bring good quality Italian and French cinema and shows to Netflix.