Fabio is in love with his colleague Linda, but she has never even seen him until he's mistaken for her boyfriend. Paolo and Mario leave for a luxurious vacation in Rio de Janeiro for Christmas, without knowing that their sons have booked a trip for the same low-cost destination and, for a problem of homonymy between fathers and sons, the two holidays are exchanged.
Марта недавно защитила блестящую диссертацию по философии и с энтузиазмом бросилась искать работу. Но все собеседования, на которые исправно ходит Марта, заканчиваются многообещающим «мы вам позвоним», однако время идет, а никто не рвется предложить девушке работу. Но стоило ей совсем уж отчаяться, как судьба подбрасывает неожиданный подарок: случайно встреченная в метро девочка уговаривает свою маму пригласить Марту работать няней. Вместо этого «мама» предлагает Марте подработать в центре телефонного обслуживания.
Unemployed Domenico robs a bank, but is forced to take a hostage when things go wrong. The hostage, Tommaso, is a man who hates his wife and job, and who was already planning to run away with his gay cop lover, so this seems to him like a good opportunity to disappear and start over again: the kidnapped becomes the kidnapper, and things get even more complicated when they're reached by Rita, Tommaso's daughter.
Director Maurizio Nichetti is invited on TV to introduce a screening of his neo-realist classic 'The Icicle Thief'. He is horrified to discover that his black-and-white tale of life in poverty is constantly interrupted by garish color commercials, and even more horrified when a power cut in the studio causes film and commercials to mix up – a glamorous model finds herself in the arms of an unemployed pauper, while his wife finds herself in consumers' heaven. Nichetti has to break into the film to try to sort everything out.
