He Who Hesitates Is LostMovies like He Who Hesitates Is Lost
- Key Features:
- Workplace comedy, Rivalry, Misunderstanding, Satire, Bureaucracy, Ambition, Slapstick
- Tone:
- humorous, satirical
- Target Audience:
- Comedy fans, Workplace humor enthusiasts
- Emotional Arc:
- Anticipation → Chaos
He Who Hesitates Is Lost

After their boss' death, two clerks eagerly await the arrival of the next one, each one of them hoping to become the apple of his eye. They compete in every possible way to impress him, which causes lots of trouble and many misunderstandings.
He Who Hesitates Is Lost
Two very different men have something in common: the work. When their companies are bought by a bigger one, who will take the only place of boss of the new company?

David loses his white collar job, his fiancée and his house after one night with con man Marcello. He tracks him down to exact revenge, but ends up becoming his disciple in order to win back everything.

The frustrating adventures of a humble employee who all the time has to fullfill the wishes and desires of his bosses.

September 1943: in the general confusion a thief dressed as a priest and a sergeant exchange clothes and roles.

After spending most of his life being defeated by his rival Ottone, meek Biagio tries to commit suicide – but in the hereafter he's offered a chance to come back to life for a week as Dennis, Ottone's trusted business partner.

A group of middle-aged time-share investors get ripped off and their desire for revenge is well-timed for them to be recruited by a bank clerk who feels the same about his employers.

Esposito is a thief who cons tourists in Rome. Officer Bottoni manages to catch him and starts persecuting him. When Esposito manages to flee, Bottoni's superiors inform him that he'll lose his job if he can't catch Esposito.

Corrupt and sleazy entrepreneur Cetto La Qualunque comes back to Italy and "jumps into politics" lest his law-abiding opponent, Giovanni De Santis, is elected as mayor.

Lino lives in Turin with the family of his sister. He doesn't have a good job and never enough money. But in a day his life changes: he wins 1 billion dollars in a lottery and... everyone becomes a friend, the girl who he liked becomes his girlfriend and his sister begins to love him. He leaves Turin with his friend Parola and, in a casino, he loses all money! But luck returns...

Imagine a world where the worst behaviour you could ever have is to forget your store's loyalty card in your other trousers...that's what happens to Adrien. This serious misconduct forces him to go into hiding, as both police and media hunt him down.

Fantozzi is now retired but continues to go to the office where it is held up as a fine example of employees intending to do career.

Giuseppe Di Noi, an Italian surveyor living in Swiden, gets arrested at the border while going back to Italy with his family for a vacation. But can someone tell the man why?

A series of skits involving customers and store personnel from several departments of the big department store.

A man wakes up one morning with an annoying ringing sound in his ears. A note on the fridge says: "Your friend Luigi has died. P.S. I took the car". The problem is that he does not even remember who this guy Luigi is. This is just the beginning of a tragicomic day during which he will be plunged into the folly of the world. One of those days that changes your life forever.

Enrico is a corporate man whose job is to manipulate inexperienced scions into selling their flailing companies. His latest assignment proves more difficult than anticipated—since his target are two young siblings whose parents just died in a car accident.

Gerardo, an aspiring actor, trying unsuccessfully to cross over from comedy to tragedy, is involved, due to his ability to mimic dialects of Italy, in a scam concocted by Lallo against a rich cloth-merchant.

Some political candidates are determined to win the electors' preference during an election campaign in Italy.

Louis just found the corpse of a man in front of his apartment building. Taken in for custody by Captain Buron, he finds himself on the wrong end of a surreal interrogation. But how can you prove you are innocent when the cops are crazy?

A boy and a girl fall in love but their fathers take a strong dislike to each other, clashing repeatedly during the preparations for the upcoming marriage.

Story of an ambitious young doctor through unethical means intend to make a quick career. Now is primary in a luxury clinic where administers the sick with the same cynicism of his young years.

Giacomo is a 40-year-old man who works for a big company in Milan. To avoid working on weekends, he lies about having a girlfriend whose character he creates based upon a girl he sees every morning.

The day of Chief Constable Saracino begins badly when his new car is stolen. Then, in his office, he meets Alfredo Fiori who believes that his wife and her lover, a veterinary, are trying to murder him.

Riko is an honest and hardworking man who can count on a group of real friends and a loving wife. Things change after he loses his job and experiences a midlife crisis.

Expert conman Joe Thanks teams up with half-breed Bill and naive Lucy to steal $300,000 from the Indian-hating Major Cabot. Their elaborate plan is full of disguises, double-crosses, and chases, but Joe always seems to know what he's doing.

Morán works as a clerk in a bank in Buenos Aires. He is as good as invisible to his colleagues. Over dinner with his colleague Román, Morán tells him that he stole exactly $650,000, which is exactly double what he would have made until his retirement. He plans to turn himself in, but not before offering Román to split the money if agrees to hide it for the duration of his incarceration.

Soccer is an alien world for Walter Vismara, an unfamiliar terrain he's always avoided. But when his job hangs in the balance, he's thrust into the role of goalkeeper by his soccer-obsessed boss. Forced into a relentless routine of practice sessions and taunts, Walter finds himself trapped in a nightmare. His troubles escalate when he discovers his beloved in the arms of his archenemy, adding a personal dimension to his challenges. Determined to prove his worth, Walter devises a plan: to play the fool outwardly while secretly honing his skills. As he navigates this comedic yet challenging journey on the soccer field, will Walter emerge victorious and finally earn the respect he deserves?

Franck wants a quiet life and a fresh start. After 15 years of a failed theatre career, he finds a seemingly perfect job: museum guard. But that is before he meets Sybille, his neurotic colleague.

Convenience and video store clerks Dante and Randal are sharp-witted, potty-mouthed and bored out of their minds. So in between needling customers, the counter jockeys play hockey on the roof, visit a funeral home and deal with their love lives.

Umberto Maria Durloni is a successful lawyer and a socialite who likes parties and a lavish life. He's got it all, except any ethical qualms.Only a step away from the top, his perfect world crumbles, showing him the brutal do downside to his life.

A divorced couple fights for the custody of their three children: neither of them wants it. Mom wants to leave them to dad, and vice versa.

A young bank teller, literally allergic to paper money, becomes the worst nightmare of his best customer, a wealthy butcher who manages his business unscrupulously.

An unemployed man gets a job as traffic policeman but the traffic in the big city creates innumerous problems for the poor guy.

Salvo and Valentino are two happy Sicilian friends, who do not want to work, because they know that if they find a permanent job, their girlfriends will ask them to marry them.

Franco Lucci is an entrepreneur on the verge of bankruptcy. The salvation of his company hangs on a large public contract that he could obtain thanks to the intervention of a minister who has become a friend and whom he has invited to dinner. Together with Michele, his partner and brother-in-law, Franco has organized the perfect evening: in addition to paying him a large bribe, the two arrange for him to find a girl willing to sleep with him in exchange for a recommendation. All under the eyes of Rita, Franco's wife, who tries to indulge her husband in his last desperate attempt to obtain the million-dollar contract. Because of the girl, the evening takes an unexpected turn.

A good-natured but unlucky Italian is constantly going on a difficult situations, but never lose his mood.

The third film in the saga of the unlucky clerk Ugo Fantozzi, played by its creator, Paolo Villaggio.

After a hard day at work and a condominium-board meeting, accountant Ugo Fantozzi goes on a trip with his family. Unfortunately, he will face a nasty surprise upon his return.

Two deadbeat friends barely pass the entrance exam for the Carabinieri, the national gendarmerie of Italy, but love for the same woman gets in the way.

The owner of an Information Technology firm wants to sell his business for profit. The trouble is that when he started his firm he invented a nonexistent company president to hide behind when unpopular steps needed to be taken. When potential purchasers insist on negotiating with the "Boss" face to face the owner has to hire a failed actor to play the part.

Gaetano is a divorced traffic cop in a relationship with a beautiful and exuberant woman, for whom he happily provides standards of living well above his means. He plans to propose to her, but she is thinking to run away with his handsome superior. In the midst of debts, unpaid alimony and other serious financial issues, Gaetano unexpectedly wins the lottery, turning the fortune around.

The world's greatest criminal and the world greatest loser share the same face... now they'll share the same life!

Amanzio Rastelli appointed several of his relations to managerial positions in his firm. They decided to think internationally and now business is heavily in debt. Luckily for the Rastellis, Bolta the accountant uses all the tricks of his art to cook the books, but catastrophe awaits.

Two reckless friends Leonardo (Adriano Celentano) and Luciano (Renato Potstsetto) are just doing whatever they want and getting into endless alterations. When one of them decides to marry, their friendship is in a crisis ...

In the first episode, Quirino tries to conquer co-worker Gabriella. In the second episode, Prof. Beozi ends up in a raid of the police in a local for homosexuals when trying to avoid a scandal. In the third episode, Guglielmo passes all tests in order to become reader of the television news brilliantly, although the commission works with all subtleness's to exclude him.

Based on Tommy Jaud's bestselling novel, this comedy focuses on a dispassionate clerk and his set-backs in life. 29-year-old Simon works in a phone shop, but his thoughts just circle around finding a new girl-friend after being left by his last one year ago. While his Croatian cleaner tries to procure him, his efforts to chat up women in clubs also fail. However, he finds the woman of his dreams (and mother of their future children) in his most hated coffee shop, although not having a clue how to win her heart...

Employees at a Bennigan's-like restaurant (called, creatively enough, Shenanigan's), kill time before their real lives get started. But while they wait, they'll have to deal with picky customers who want their steak cooked to order and enthusiastic managers who want to build the perfect wait staff. Luckily, these employees have effective revenge tactics.

The film is divided into two episodes, The Hair of Disgrace and The Magician, both focusing on the theme of the occult and beliefs.

A queue at the ATM machine, a displaced family after a seismic shock that has half-washed their home, a tour within an art gallery, moments of everyday life that become the cues for the emergence of comic, farce, paradoxical situations – trademarks of one of the most successful Italian comic groups.

Now in the Far North (i.e. Milan!), Alberto has accepted to manage a program for efficiency improvement in the Italian Post. He devotes all his time and all his energy to this noble task and neglects his wife Silvia, which of course annoys her beyond limits. Things do not fare much better in Castellabate where it is rather Maria, Matta's wife, who gets on his nerves by always blaming him for his lack of ambition. One day, due to a misunderstanding, Mattia is transferred to... Milan! And on whose doorstep does he land? Alberto's of course!

Oscar dreams of becoming an actor or a stuntman. To contact a manufacturer he stages an accident and consequently injures a young actress, then tries to limit the damage by taking the girl to his home.

After Shenaniganz loses all its hottest waitresses to new competitor Ta-Ta's Wing Shack -- where the scantily clad wait staff earns bigger tips -- the Shenaniganz staff aims to give Ta-Ta's its just desserts.

A funny story about two brothers, Pietro and Francesco, and what happens with them and their families after Petro loses his memory.

Coming out from jail, Lucas has decided to change his life and behave like a good citizen. But when he is taken hostage in a bank by a hare-brained robber, no cops can believe he is not part of the action.

Two silent movie actors escape from their film. Forced to find a way to survive in the real world, they will only cause troubles to the people they will meet along the way.

An aging, down-and-out public employee must face the primary school examination.

A director and his crew attempt to make the transition from the small to the big screen.

Antonio and Giuseppe meet at the hospital, while awaiting the birth of their respective first children. The two leave together for a quick lunch, ending up involved against their will in an odyssey of amusing setbacks and bizarre characters.

Felice Sciosciammocca, the mayor of Roccasecca, sends his nephew Ciccillo to Naples so that he will become a good doctor.

Daniel and Stéphane, two salesmen working in the same store but who cannot stand each other, decide despite everything to team up to participate in television games so they can pay their debts.

In the barracks of the "Settecamini" fire brigade in Rome, the shabby Squadra 17 tackles missions with resounding failures, waiting in vain for a chance for redemption.

This film originated as a play in Paris. The story focuses on the one-day adventures of Bertrand Barnier played with a genius of French cinema, Louis de Funes. In the same morning he learns that his daughter is pregnant, an employee stole a large amount of money from his company, his maid is about to resign in order to marry a wealthy neighbor and his body builder is interested in marrying his daughter. The seemingly complicated story-line is full of comedy or errors and some of the most hilarious mime scenes of the French cinema.

Con man Aldo breaks out of jail and seizes a car at gunpoint, taking its passengers—bumbling police officer Giacomo and nitpicking civilian Giovanni—hostages. An unlikely friendship blossoms.

Four guys working for a small grocer in trouble, declare war on a new giant neighborhood supermarket by attempting several coups. A film about the big store taking over the business of smaller stores.

In a school where the meeting seems more complete sampling of teachers and professors stupid airhead, there is the class of Peter, repeating in life, which is the "grandfather" to the far more young companions concerning jokes and vulgarity. Even outside the school walls, in the family or in the streets of the village where he lives, Peter is not far behind and his antics continue to freewheel.

Construction worker Oreste and young fiancee Adelaide meet Nello, a cook in a pizzeria. This love triangle often goes to communist rallies, and enjoys the filthy beaches of Ostia. Will the hostile environment pave a way to jealousy?

Anna and Piero fighting routine of a long marriage, when Piero loses his memory, Anna reconstructs his way. For its part, the concierge Rocco and his friend Michele play in a group that emulates the Beatles and face opposition from their partners. Finally, Marcello and Paola are a divorced couple who, from time to time, pretend they are still together to avoid problems. They are victims of a relentless war of sexes.

Young Ciro Priello, an ultra-skilled Neapolitan graphic, can not find a job that satisfies and appreciates him. After sending the curriculum practically everywhere, he just have to send a copy in space. He will thus be able to work for an alien society based on competence and meritocracy.

After five years enduring horrible work conditions, Sophia finally gets chosen for a long-awaited transfer from her thankless teaching job at a rough middle school. Ecstatic to start a new life teaching at the French Lycée in Barcelona, her hopes are dashed to bits when a well- connected, over-qualified teacher at an upscale Paris school cuts in to take the position. Determined to stand her ground, Sophia and her clever neighbour Mr. Picard join forces to sabotage her competitor’s candidacy.

Fifteen years after the card game on Christmas Eve in which he lost 550 million lire, Franco Mattioli returns to Bologna because he learned that his friend Lele - a film critic by profession, present at the fateful game (he managed to win 500 thousand lire) - has an incurable disease. In all these years Franco has continually thought about the match and now he knows that the time for revenge has arrived. For this reason he decides to convince the people present in 1986 (in addition to Lele, Ugo Cavara, Stefano Bertoni and Antonio Santelia) to play again.

Estranged, quarreling brothers Carezza and Sorriso have to put aside their differences to reclaim their father's beloved dune buggy from predatory real estate developer Torsillo, with the help of beautiful circus performer Miriam, whose family business is threatened by Torsillo's enforcers.

One by one, with a sweet but inexorable rate, Ugo's colleagues, go to a better life. When Ugo is attending at one of the innumerable funerals, he and the priest remain involved in an accident. The doctor says that Ugo as only one week left to live

Four waiters and a cook working at a seaside restaurant hate one another but still keep working together for lack of better opportunities.

What go around comes around for a pair of prank-playing tire salesmen who find themselves placed in secretarial jobs by their put-upon boss.

Two orderlies pretend to be surgeons to impress two young doctors and conquer, through several scenarios. Finally, they are discovered when they had to operate on a mafia boss to remove a bullet.

A scruffy garbage boy becomes the pupil of famed gunfighter Talby, and the stage for confrontation is set when the gunman overruns the boy's town through violence and corruption.

After receiving a large sum of money on his bank account by mistake, a small-town thirtysomething dissatisfied with his life sees the opportunity of turning back the clock to when things were good, reliving the carefree life of an university student in a big city. Here, he falls in love with a girl and gets her pregnant. There's just one problem: he already has a wife and a daughter back home!

Jesús Quesada, an incompetent executive, is appointed as the new director of a company in decline whose survival will now depend on both the ingenuity and ambition of his former colleagues.

A timid and extravagant bank clerk, Dae-ho is considered inefficient at his workplace. As he tries to be recognized by his superior, his efforts only cause more bad situations. But he has an explosive energy that nobody knows about. One day, after yet another day of suffering at work, he goes to a wrestling gym to persuade its owner to become his bank’s client. And, by accident, he starts to learn how to wrestle. From then, he starts to live a new life. And his personality starts to change…

A sugar-refinery worker flees his Northern Italy town after a woman refuses his marriage proposal.

The penniless Duke decides to participate in "Lascia o raddoppia", a TV quiz show, in order to win five million lira. Then two gangsters bet between themselves on his success and, alas, the Duke is kidnapped.

Two lovers are stuck in stale relationships due to lean finances. But when one is duped into thinking he's suddenly rich, he takes very drastic action.

Marino Pacileo has a soft spot for gambling. When he discovers that Lila's father, the young Chinese girl that he is in love with cannot pay a debt, the gambler steals money from the jail he is in to help the love of his life.

The relationships between a veteran marshal, his bride-to-be, a rookie and his fiancée are severely tested when the young carabiniere is temporarily sent to a distant town.

A broke mechanic turns a bank loan denial into an impromptu robbery that puts him on the run with his best friend and a starlet they hold hostage.

A group of yuppies fight over a group of office stooges for the control of a shoe factory.

Antonio married Amalia and went to fight in Russia during World War II. Since he didn't return Amalia thought he was dead, so she married another man. Many year after the war end, Antonio returned. Amalia has to choose between two husbands.

Two not very clever young doctors open a fitness center and promise to let people lose seven kilos in seven days. When the enterprise fails they open a gourmet restaurant.

On his deathbed, a powerful Mafia boss names his estranged son heir to his criminal empire: however, his men discover too late that the son at issue is an idiotic manchild.

A police inspector has to help an eccentric stranger who seems to have lost his memory.

Hector Valentin returns to France from Canada when he inherits a small sawmill. He has difficulties restarting the run-down operation which has inefficient workers and is hampered by the dirty tactics of its bigger...

Four married couples find out their marriage is invalid because it was officiated by a fraudulent priest and have to decide what to do next.

We are all equal before the law, but some are just more equal than others. Antonio is a trainee lawyer who dreams of joining his mentor’s prestigious firm. But Salvatore “Toti” Bellastella, the Prince of the Forum, is also an exploitative tyrant! He asks Antonio any kind of task: from being his assistant to driver, from paralegal to personal cook! When Antonio brilliantly passes the bar, he gets the offer of becoming a partner in the firm, but there is still one condition: he must marry Isabel, Toti’s lover, an Argentinian girl who needs the Italian citizenship. It looks like just another little “favor” for his boss. So Antonio accepts… and he’s really in a sea of trouble.

An obscure Italian magistrate suspects that a well-known industrialist commited murder, and decides to investigate him, and bring him to court, whatever it takes. But - will the magistrate have it in him to go against impossible odds, in the name of the Italian people he represents?

When he hears that the new female employee digs ambitious men who are the store employee of the month, a slacker gets his act together but finds himself in competition with his rival, an ambitious co-worker.

Bernardo is dumped by his girlfriend, his career as a rock music critic is beginning to decline and stars to see a psychologist but in the meantime he meets the problematic and shy Camilla, who disrupts his life.

A meek middle-aged man takes on every conceivable temporary job in order to feel useful and keep his dignity—until something shakes his inexhaustible optimism.

As he tries to win back his ex-girlfriend, a lethargic Lower Bavarian police officer gets sidetracked by a panicky boss and an escaped psychopath.

A young shoemaker is arrested for stealing a small amount of money, and is jailed for fifteen years. Upon his release, he wants to get a permit to get a job and start anew, but finds that without a job he can't get a permit, and without a permit he can't get a job. Ensnared in the absurd net of Prussian bureaucracy, he can't see any way out. That is, until he enters a thrift shop and spots a Prussian officer's uniform that fits him like a second skin...

Five ordinary people disillusioned with politics—a perennial temp, a docker, a university professor, a TV reporter, and a convict—decide to kidnap a politician, to dispense justice and use the ransom money to compensate the family of a blue-collar worker who died in workplace accident.
