The Last One for the Road (2025)

Movie · 2025 · Comedy · 1h 38m · NR · IT

Curator score: 7.6/10 (34.6K ratings)

Overview

A couple of jovial life-long drunkards run into a shy architecture undergrad, whose way of seeing things will be transformed as the trio wanders from pub to pub in search of a buried treasure.

Ratings

Director

Francesco Sossai

Production

Vivo Film, Maze Pictures, RAI Cinema

Cast

Filippo Scotti, Sergio Romano, Pierpaolo Capovilla, Roberto Citran, Andrea Pennacchi, Giuseppe Messina, Denis Fasolo, Tommaso Gianesini, Lorena De March, Gianni Da Re, Julia Passini, Lea Di Leo, Giulia Bertasi, Ted Keijser, Diego De Francesco, Mauro Candeago, Eva Bortoluzzi

Curator Review

Verdict

A warm, offbeat road comedy with real regional texture, mixing pub-crawl mischief, generational drift, and a melancholy sense of place. It sounds especially appealing if you like character-driven Italian cinema that finds poetry in provincial landscapes and small, lived-in details.

Best for

  • Viewers who enjoy bittersweet buddy comedies
  • Fans of Italian regional stories and provincial atmosphere
  • People who like loose, wandering narratives with emotional undercurrents
  • Audiences drawn to generational encounters and coming-of-age-by-proxy stories

Skip if

  • You want a tightly plotted treasure hunt or high-concept comedy
  • You dislike meandering, observational storytelling
  • You prefer broad gag-driven humor over mood and texture
  • You are not in the mood for alcohol-soaked, melancholic characters

Overview

The Last One for the Road plays like a tavern-bound pilgrimage through a very specific corner of Italy, where jokes, hangovers, and local lore gradually turn into something more tender. The setup is simple, but the film seems to thrive on drift: two old drinkers, one shy student, and a landscape that keeps revealing its own bruised beauty.

Worth noting

What stands out most is the sense of place. This is the kind of comedy that treats provincial roads, unfinished buildings, and barroom rituals as emotional architecture. The popular response suggests a film that is funny, affectionate, and quietly mournful, with a strong pull toward Veneto identity and all the contradictions that come with it.

Bottom line

It should land best for viewers who enjoy films that are less about punchlines than atmosphere, companionship, and the strange education that happens when mismatched people spend a day together. If you want a road movie that feels lived-in, local, and a little tipsy on memory, this is an easy recommendation.

Top Letterboxd reviews

Marianna (4★) · 1565 likes

cosa se il gatto e la volpe avessero portato pinocchio al bacaro tour anziché al campo dei miracoli

matisantantonio · 1167 likes

cosa meno reale di questo film: il tempo impiegato per fare un biglietto nelle biglietterie automatiche di trenitalia

Fra Spy (4★) · 987 likes

Finalmente un film sull’🚬🚧🚛🎰italia🍻💊🥃 e non sull’⛱️🌅🍕🍝italia👙☀️🍑

thatsrebe (5★) · 986 likes

I due cerchi incrociati bagnati del fondo del bicchiere che riprendono i due cerchi intrecciati di Carlo Scarpa: brivido.

Emanuele Antolini (3.5★) · 870 likes

Malinconia di case mai finite, di insegne senza lettere e senza vita, di occasioni perse tra le città di pianura dei "se". Poi però c'è l'ultima birra, l'ultima ombra, rigurgiti di passione o innesti di speranza per nuove storie da raccontare, come quella di un treno preso al volo per Verona verso il sogno di un'altra realtà o mondo. Ma tra la laguna e la montagna la differenza è abissale e in mezzo c'è così tanto da dire. Infondo avere vent'anni o sessanta poco importa.

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Topics

Italian comedy, road movie, buddy film, provincial life, melancholy, drinking culture, coming-of-age, regional identity, slice of life, warm-hearted

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