MOVIE REVIEW : ‘MACARONI’ HAS SCOLA SEASONING

In Ettore Scola’s “Macaroni” (at Mann’s Plaza), Jack Lemmon and Marcello Mastroianni do the impossible. They take characters that have almost become their trademarks--the successful American businessman, soul-dead and cynical, and the quixotic Italian, rich in spirit but not much else--and invest them with fresh vitality and tenderness.

While they are doing what they do so consummately well, “Macaroni” is airborne. Even predictability is no problem: We know from the second that Lemmon lands in Naples, where he hasn’t been since World War II, that the warmth of the Mediterranean sun will unclench this tightly wound all-businessman. Where “Macaroni” fails its stars is in structure, which is frail at best. Too much is left for the last fifth of the picture, when the film galumphs off on a new and unorganic tack.

Yet for all this, “Macaroni” is a surprisingly endearing picture. One of our first surprises comes with Mastroianni’s character. When he breaks into Lemmon’s jet-lagged sleep at the hotel, we, as well as Lemmon, are braced for a touch. But this proud, raffishly threadbare bank clerk, whose job in the catacombs of a centuries-old Italian bank is positively Dickensian, has nobler intentions. What, we find out shortly.

From “Down and Dirty” to “We All Loved Each Other So Much” to “La Nuit de Varennes,” memorable and/or eccentric characters--as well as small, telling detail--have been a Scola trademark. “Macaroni” is no exception. These Neapolitans have a way of behaving that is slightly off our expectation: a scruffy-looking man who bums a cigarette offers a mint in return. Mastroianni’s somnolent tortoise of a mother, who’s supposed to be a whiz at predicting the future, may not be an old blatherer at all. Most surprising is that Lemmon’s extremely efficient Italian business secretary does not pull off her wig and turn out to be Dustin Hoffman in “Tootsie” disguise. (I kept waiting for that one.)

For all the moments when “Macaroni’s” writers amble away and desert us (or worse, create unplayable and unwatchable scenes, such as the end of Lemmon’s night on the town), there are marvelous other ones when they connect. Mastroianni finds the American predilection for judging mankind by the size of its wallet not only a sign of “aridity,” but “vulgar” as well. Slowly, as it’s meant to, the Latin temperament and way of looking at the world seem infinitely better, both more sensible and more sensitive.

Not all the devices work. The connection between the two men is a short wartime romance Lemmon had with Mastroianni’s sister, which he had long since forgotten. (What Mastroianni has built from this brief encounter is what makes “Macaroni” as fanciful as it is--and to give that away would be a cardinal sin.) Their reunion, 40 years later, which should be poignant, isn’t. Having her materialize as she was in the 1940s, as Lemmon returns to the blue-and-yellow tiled Galleria where they courted, is an ill-chosen idea.

There was always a rueful elegance to Mastroianni’s performances, and it has been enhanced enormously by maturity. He and Scola, who have made so many films together, seem to have a complicity in their work that makes Mastroianni’s the richer of the two characters. (Lemmon’s is also woefully underwritten.) However, Lemmon also seems different, simpler in his attack, less predictable vocally, quietly warm. Scola’s special gift with actors has worked with both his stars.

You have to wonder about the film’s ending, though. “Macaroni” seems to close best with Scola’s last, searching camera pan around at the faces of all the gathered relatives--and with a little ambiguity. It would be interesting to know how it came to be in its present form. ‘MACARONI’

A Paramount release. Producers Luigi and Aurelio De Laurentiis and Franco Committieri. Director Ettore Scola. Screenplay Ruggero Maccari, Furio Scarpelli, Scola. Camera Claudio Ragona. Editor Carla Simoncelli. Production design Luciano Ricceri. Music Armando Trovajoli. With Jack Lemmon, Marcello Mastroianni, Daria Nicolodi, Isa Danieli, Maria Luisa Saniella, Patrizzia Sacchi, Bruno Esposito.

Running time: 1 hour, 44 minutes.

MPAA-rated: PG (parental guidance suggested).