As anybody who's ever seen his brilliant performances in Jim Jarmusch's Night On Earth and Stranger Than Paradise can attest, Roberto Benigni is a gifted comedian. His work without Jarmusch, however—including his forgettable turn in Son Of The Pink Panther—has been disappointing, to say the least. In his latest vehicle, which he also co-produced, co-wrote and directed, Benigni plays a mild-mannered window dresser who is repeatedly mistaken for a rapist/serial killer. The police, in an attempt to catch him red-handed, send a buxom officer (Nicoletta Braschi) to live with him and lure him into committing murder by arousing his supposedly depraved libido. It plays worse than it sounds: The plot is little more than a meager excuse for a long string of depressing set-pieces, most of which end in Benigni accidentally appearing to violently sodomize a string of distraught-looking vixens. Flashes of Benigni's brilliance are apparent throughout, but overall, The Monster is sabotaged by a script so crude and insulting, it makes the Ace Ventura series seem like Merchant-Ivory films in comparison. The Monster was a huge hit in Italy, so obviously there's an audience for it, but it would be nice to see Benigni in a film that does justice to his comedic gifts.