Ragazze Medie

According to Babel Fish (the occasionally accurate web translation service) that is Italian for MEAN GIRLS. And last night I went to see the film CATERINA IN THE CITY, or CATERINA GOES TO THE CITY -- as it is called on the title card.

It's got some of the MEAN GIRLS flavor to it.

CATERINA is a movie about a 12 or 13 year old Italian girl from the boondocks, who moves to Rome when her socially star-struck father teacher is transferred there. He places her in the school he went to when he was a kid and Caterina is immediately swept up in the stark social intrigue of the school -- caught in between the goths and the preppie girls.

This film, though simplistic, is really alot of fun and rides on the very capable shoulders of the girl who plays Caterina, Alice Teghil. It's a film that could easily have degenerated into clichés and though there are plenty here, Teghil really makes us see past them and care about her. It's more "heightened realism" than "neorealism."

There are several very funny performances, especially Sergio Castellitto, as Caterina's pompous father, who has stars in his eyes for the Caterina's friends' famous parents but who ultimately comes to realize that all of them share a common bond -- their fame insulates them from understanding the common people.

It's fun. It's touching. It's [fill in your critic-whore adjective here].