Tartufo

A giant truffle brings hope to a down on its luck Tuscan town in this fun if over-the-top farce from Buxton (Hollow Kingdom). After a truffle dog unearths a six-pound, 14-ounce specimen, the villagers of Lazzarini Boscarino hope it will bring a much-needed influx of funds. They’re often overlooked by tourists in favor of Borghese, the next town over, which is known for its festivals and its Michelin-starred restaurant run by Umberto Micucci, native son of Lazzarini Boscarino. Umberto’s sister-in-law, Delizia, Lazzarini Boscarino’s mayor, is tasked with keeping the truffle safe until it can be appraised and auctioned off by Sotheby’s. A distinctive group of villagers help Delizia, including a scowling elderly man regularly referred to as the “disgraced postman” for a long-ago scandal, a wheelchair-using retired driver whose brightly colored pants can allegedly “be seen from outer space,” and an octogenarian restaurateur who recently lost her establishment to a landslide. Some of the writing is clever (Delizia “put her heart, soul, and a sizable number of sedatives into her run for election”), though Buxton too often exhibits a weakness for excess (during a commotion in a bar, bottles of wine are seen “leaping from a shelf to their deaths,” causing the barkeep to emit “vinegar fumes of fury”). There are laughs to be had, but Buxton has done better. Agent: Bill Clegg, Clegg Agency. (Jan.)