Film Review: ‘I Don’t Understand You’ is a Very Dark Comedy That Nearly Gets Too Mean

With any dark comedy, you want the film to have bite, for sure, but you also don’t want it to ever get too mean. When a movie is mean-spirited, it stops being fun. I bring this up because I Don’t Understand You is an example of a flick that very nearly commits this sin. It walks perilously close to the line, but never quite trips over it. So, you wind up with a pitch black comedy, one with genre elements, that doesn’t lose its audience, even if it comes close a time or two.

I Don’t Understand You is being labeled a comedy horror film, which doesn’t really fit. It isn’t scary, it’s more just, eventually, somewhat bloody. It’s a better example of just black comedy, in my humble opinion at least. When it’s funny, it’s very funny. The dark elements of the script are certainly not ignored, to the point where it almost wallows in the darkness. Still, it remains just fun enough to recommend.

Married American couple Dom (Nick Kroll) and Cole (Andrew Rannells) want to adopt a baby and become fathers. While on vacation in Italy, they find out from Candace (Amanda Seyfried) that she’s chosen them to become the parents of her unborn baby. So, the trip is essentially a European baby moon, before their lives change. However, when a friend of Dom’s father sends the two to a special dinner to celebrate, it becomes a spiral that not only ruins their trip, but leads to a surprising body count.

On the way to the dinner in rural Italy, first their rental car gets stuck in a ditch, stranding them in a downpour. Luckily, they get picked up and taken to the restaurant, which is run out of the home of retired chef Zia Luciana (Nunzia Schiano). The pizza is delicious, but she only speaks Italian, which they can’t understand or speak. When an accident leads to her death, they’re determined not to have their lives ruined by the tragedy. Of course, her son Massimo (Morgan Spector) immediately shows up as they’re cleaning up the scene. It only gets worse from there.

Nick Kroll and Andrew Rannells have terrific chemistry together, which saves the day. They’ve worked together before, of course, and the familiarity shows. Neither go as broad as they’re capable of, but they do still find a lot of the comedy even in the dark situations. When they have moments to just riff, it really feels like the comedy is firing on all cylinders. Amanda Seyfried and Morgan Spector are essentially cameos, though they both do their jobs well enough. The former elevates a thin character, while the latter is having a lot of fun. In addition to Nunzia Schiano, the supporting cast includes Eleonora Romandini, Paolo Romano, Fabio Salerno, and more.

Filmmakers David Joseph Craig and Brian Crano do not shy away from the dark nature of this story. In fact, one could argue that they lean a little bit further than necessary. Their direction is unspectacular but gets the job done, while their screenplay is a bit hit or miss. Craig and Crano craft some solid comedy, to be sure, though the mean element of these people dying is never fully earned by the movie. The resolution actually is better than I expected, but I’d be lying if I Don’t Understand You had nearly lost me at the start of the third act. The film recovers, obviously, but it was touch and go for a bit there.

I Don’t Understand You ultimately works enough to warrant a recommendation due to Nick Kroll and Andrews Rannells. As long as you have a taste for black comedy, it does more right than wrong in the end. That’s up to you, of course, but especially if you like Kroll and/or Rannells, this is a flick worth checking out.

SCORE: ★★★