An about-face from Gomorrah’s Matteo Garrone, who exchanges hard-edged drama for blistering satire in this intelligent, blackly comic tale of a lowly fishmonger with a burning ambition to be a reality TV star.

After attending a wedding in which last year’s winner of the Italian Big Brother drives the patrons wild by putting in an appearance, wedding guest Luciano (Aniello Arena)—always fond of clowning—is urged by his children to apply for the new round of the reality show. Off to Rome he goes, where he cajoles his way into the auditions, returning to Naples convinced that he’s "wowed ’em." In fact, he’s pretty sure that every stranger he sees is a scout from the show, come to Naples to check on his suitability. Encouraged by friends and family—but not so much by his wife ( Loredana Simioli), who is beginning to worry—he performs for these "scouts," by, for example, engaging in charitable acts that are well beyond his means. As his actions become even more erratic he remains convinced he will soon get the call to Rome…

"The realist issues within Reality… shift from media matters… to one man’s grasp on the difference between reality and delusion. That the show’s studio set happens to be physically close to the set-like Vatican underlines… the tie-ins between old-time religion and new electronic entertainment with its powers of seduction and pull toward an alternative life. If Luciano hasn’t quite found it in the end, he is right where he wanted to be."—Robert Koehler, Film Comment