Arianna Moses Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

lasttimeisaw Saw the film in my oral Italian class (sadly the last one, as the course will finish in two weeks), this time due to the fact that the screen shrank dramatically (we moved to a shabbier classroom), so I have to be more focus as to see clear what was happening on the screen (my eyesight reduces gradually), as in the film there are a dozens of characters (in a small screen, Italians look so alike each other) and I must not bypass the subtitles at the same time.A simple, nice comedy of teenagers coming-of-age with a nostalgic reminiscence of '80s. Without too much ambition and ostentations. Even though most characters are not all well developed, everything seems real and natural (in a way), not pushed by force. The time before Italian high school exams, like China's university entrance exam, a milestone in a teenager's life, also a transition from teenager to adulthood, a critical time which will influence one's entire life inevitably. Apart from school life, love at first sight (though not reciprocal), friendship, cheating (messing around with girlfriend's younger sister), pot, an unrequited love, a divorced family, a senile love story, even death (again I doubt it's necessity here), are all tangled altogether, I must say writers have really exerted studious effort to make it suitable for all demography. This film was a huge domestic success that year and of course a sequel derived from it was produced in 2007 (Notte Prima Degli Esami: Oggi) and predictably failed to match its precedent's quality.The film also reminds me of Totto L'amore Che C'e (2000), another Italian film about adolescence (with a '70s background) I watched several months ago, nostalgia still is a trend now (at least in Italian cinema), DURAN DURAN and QUEEN, or LADY GAGA and DRAKE, which is better? To tell the truth, I'm so eager to experience the period when the latter will have become a history as well.

marcus_stokes2000 *Night Before The SPOILERS* June 1989, last day of school.Young Luca (Nicolas Vaporidis), who has just ended his final year of school, decides to reveal exactly what he thinks of his former professor, Mr. Martinelli (Giorgio Faletti), nicknamed 'Carogna', and just a second after finds out that he is going to be the head teacher at the 'Exams' of the title, the 'Esami Di Maturità', Italian High Schools' Final Exams.Obviously, Luca despairs he's ever going to pass them, and to add insult to injury, he falls in love with a girl called Claudia (Cristiana Capotondi), who he met at a party neither of them was invited to... and who he doesn't know is none other than Martinelli's daughter! In the meanwhile, there are plenty of problems for his friends, too; other than the exams, of course; one of them sleeps with his girlfriend's younger sister (twice!) and gets his girlfriend pregnant, another one smokes a lot of pot, and decides to do a clandestine sell of (potential) titles of essays which will be given at the Maturità, and the only girl tries to give a hand whenever needed... and to hide her crush on Luca.We meet also Claudia's friends, one of which has not been deemed able to do the Maturità, and her family... and her boyfriend Cesare, a compendium of bad traits if there is one (so much that his girlfriend writes to him 100 reasons why she has decided to break up with him).And as the Maturità approaches, all the stories come to an end...'Notte' is a breath of fresh air for the Italian Cinema, a movie made just to be enjoyed; not forced, and characterizing teenagers as people, instead of the usual 'oversexed' image.One of the reviews described it as 'the Italian Breakfast Club'; and I agree, because despite the 1980s setting, even someone who, like me, did his Maturità only three years ago, can relate to those characters; everybody has been a Luca, fell in love with a Claudia (only to lose her to a Riccardo, or been an Alice, loving but silently, in fear of rejection. Everybody has done some stupid things like Massi, and I dare everyone to say they never met a 'Carogna' during their studies.All I can say is, thank you Franco Brizzi for this beautiful movie.Notte Prima Degli Esami: 9/10.

Giulia I think this movie is perfect! It's not a masterpiece, of course, but it was never supposed to be. It's a simple movie about teenagers, about high-school, about growing up. But it perfectly catches the atmosphere of the late 80s! It's nice and funny, without ever being banal (which often happens in this kind of movies). The young actors created characters that are real and not just a stereotype! It's like the Italian "Breakfast Club"! Watching this movie, it was like going back in time of 20 years: the music, the haircut, the clothes, the cars... That's why I would recommend it also to not-Italian people, because this movie gives a realistic idea of how was living in Italy in the "Duran-Duran era"! ;)

Andrea Vidusso It will make you laugh, it will make you dance, it will make you nostalgic, it will make you ponder, it will leave you energized. This Italian comedy, which deals with a bunch of teenagers about to graduate from high school, in the summer of 1989, is rich in rhythm and amusing situations. Scene after scene, the protagonists have the uncanny ability of getting messed up in situations more and more embarrassing: their spontaneousness and impulsiveness is infectious... and you as a viewer will quickly sympathize with them. It's also impossible not to feel a bit melancholic, when you watch the protagonists playing Subbuteo and the Commodore video game Emlyn Hughes International Soccer and you listen to music from the 80s (great soundtrack, though foreign viewers of this movie may not be able to appreciate how well it mingles with the story). Furthermore, the views of Rome are mesmerizing. Inevitably, the movie deals with the problems in the relationship with adults and teachers, but always with the lightheartedness that's proper of teenagers, as they easily shift their mind from one problem to the next one. "Notte prima degli Esami" may not leave you spiritually enriched or wiser but, quoting professor Martinelli's words, "sometimes the important thing is not the result, but the road you undertake to reach it"... and, under this point of view, the movie certainly was an entertaining ride for me! 9/10