Full of Life

Based on a novel by John Fante, this is the story of a young couple--a very Italian-Catholic young man and a nice but religiously unaffiliated young woman--who get married in a civil ceremony, much to the consternation of the husband's Italian family. The movie begins with Judy Holliday in her last month of pregnancy finally giving in and agreeing to a Catholic ceremony before her baby is born. Fitted with a maternity gown and whisked off to a ceremony on the verge of delivery, the real story is the interaction between these eccentric characters and Holliday. Fante's dialogue is fun without resorting to the slapstick this could easily have degenerated to.