The story takes place in 1989, and it focuses on Luca and his friends, as they prepare for the high school graduation's exams. During a party, Luca falls in love with Claudia, a mysterious girl from another school, who is also preparing for the exams. Meanwhile, Luca receives supplementary tutoring from his terrible teacher, Mr. Martinelli, who also happens to be Claudia's father.
The inspiration for the title was a famous 1980s song by Antonello Venditti.
It has a sequel/remake set in contemporary times, made one year later, named Notte prima degli esami oggi (Night Before the Exams Today). The first movie also has a French remake named Nos 18 ans (Our 18 Years).
Notte Prima degli Esami provides examples of:
- The '80s: Being set in 1989, the film has many references to music and pop culture of the 80s, including obviously the soundtrack.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Alice loves Luca, who loves Claudia, who loves... Riccardo, as a completely unexpected Plot Twist. It's worth noting that Claudia and Riccardo barely interact for a few seconds, and for most of the movie, Riccardo only remembers Claudia as an unkwown girl loved by his best friend.
- Bittersweet Ending: Luca Did Not Get the Girl but he does well, despite his generally pretty low grades, in the exams, and we learn that he will become a teacher in the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue.
- Book Dumb: Luca is not stupid, despite being a below-average student. According to his teacher, he's Brilliant, but Lazy.
- Butt-Monkey: Luca is very prone to screw up and embarrass himself. Then there's Santilli, a nerdy minor character who is picked on by Luca and his friends.
- Classical Antihero: Luca, oh boy is he ever.
- Cool Old Lady: Adele, Claudia's grandmother. Claudia has divorced parents, an Annoying Younger Sibling, a strict and distant father, and her grandmother is the only one who is really close to her.
- Did Not Get the Girl: Luca meets a girl named Claudia at a party and immediately falls for her. It was a brief meeting, and after the party, Luca doesn't know anything about her, except her name, and through the movie, he desperately tries to find out where she lives. Meanwhile, Claudia seems to return his feelings: we see her writing in her diary about "an amazing guy she met at a party". At the end (when they finally meet again), it turns out that Claudia was talking about Riccardo, one of Luca's friends, who was also at the party. The "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue even mentions that Claudia and Riccardo will get married.
- Fille Fatale: Simona's younger sister Loredana, who seduces Massi, her sister's boyfriend.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Luca and Mr. Martinelli eventually start getting along, despite their rough start.
- Invisible Parents: Luca's parents hardly ever appear. They will get much more focus in the sequel/remake.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- Martinelli is harsh and strict, but much of the movie is about him bonding with Luca. Also, while he doesn't get along with his daughter, he loves her deep down and is seen helping her with her studies the night before the exams. Though he still has some Sadist Teacher tendencies towards Luca, even in the last scene, he has his reasons.
- Luca's best friends Massi and Riccardo. Massi is boorish and cheats on Simona with the latter's sister because of her trying to seduce him. However, he atones for this. Riccardo, on the other hand, is a bit cocky and arrogant, but a decent guy.
- Love at First Sight: Luca, for Claudia. Unlike most examples, it's one-sided and doesn't end well.
- Nice Guy:
- Luca is this. Though he's rather awkward and sometimes ends up behaving badly because of his cowardice and lack of confidence, he's fundamentally a kind and decent individual. He's not a saint, though: he is the one who got himself into a mess by insulting his teacher, and he's not above bullying the nerdy Santilli along with Massi and Riccardo.
- Claudia is shown to be a kind, helpful and gentle girl, and this is especially seen in her relationship with her grandmother or her friend Chicca. That said, Beware the Nice Ones is still to be taken into consideration, as she has a bit of a rebellious Bratty Teenage Daughter streak towards her Stern Teacher father and her Annoying Younger Sibling, and can as well be quite harsh to people she dislikes, like her mom's new boyfriend, who is rather boorish and hypocritical.
- Alice and Simona are nice female friends to the boys. Too bad Alice's interest in Luca is unrequited, and Simona's boyfriend Massi cheats on her.
- Oblivious to Love:
- Luca's female best friend Alice is secretly in love with him, but he remains oblivious to it until the end.
- Claudia always remains oblivious to Luca's feelings for her. After learning that Claudia likes his friend Riccardo, Luca decides not to tell her anything.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Luca gives one to his teacher Mr. Martinelli at the beginning of the movie, calling him a piece of shit and a loser. It backfires on him.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Luca is rather meek and awkward (Sensitive), his two best friends Massi and Riccardo are more brash and confident (Manly).
- Stern Teacher: Mr. Martinelli is very strict, occasionally bordering on Sadist Teacher. Luca describes him this way.
- Teen Pregnancy: Simona, Massi's girlfriend. Sadly, he discovers it after he has cheated on her twice.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The epilogue has the polaroids of the main characters with their destinies and future careers written on the white part.
Notte Prima degli Esami Oggi provides examples of:
- Adaptational Jerkass: Luca and his friends were hardly saints in the first movie, but in this remake they lose most of their positive traits, and are portrayed as quite the jerks (though ultimately Jerk with a Heart of Gold types) even to each other for most of the movie.
- Artifact Title: Unlike the first movie, this one is hardly about the graduation exams, and the characters almost never talk about the exams until the final scene.
- Ascended Extra: In the first film, Luca's mom is a minor character and his dad is mentioned but not seen. Here, there's much more focus on them, to Spotlight-Stealing Squad levels in the dad's case.
- Cloudcuckoolander: It's not exactly clear what's up with Azzurra, but she's definitely odd. Luca meets her during a flash mob, then she takes him with her to crash into a rich man's residence and have a bath in the pool completely naked, then she takes him to a party where they get arrested for being, well, naked again, and the list goes on...
- Contrasting Sequel Main Character:
- Paolo, Luca's dad, replaces Mr. Martinelli as the main adult figure. Paolo is an irresponsible, carefree Manchild instead of a serious and stern character like Mr. Martinelli.
- Azzurra replaces Claudia as Luca's Love Interest. Claudia was a normal girl and intelligent student who never returned Luca's feelings, Azzurra is a crazy Manic Pixie Dream Girl who has a real relationship with Luca.
- Demoted to Extra: In the first movie, Alice was Luca's female best friend who was secretly in love with him, but still wanted her beloved to be happy, served as the voice of reason, and was Luca's most helpful confidant. In this sequel/remake, she's just one member of Luca's group of friends who randomly has sex with Luca in one scene.
- Hot Teacher: Ms. Elisabetta Paliani is seen this way by her students, and Luca's dad has an affair with her.
- Manchild: Paolo, Luca's dad, which his wife remarks comparing him to Peter Pan.
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Azzurra, being a cloudcuckoolander who seduces Luca and gives him a reason to be happy during a rather depressing time.
- Ms. Fanservice: Carolina Crescentini (AKA the infamous Corinna from Boris) as Azzurra. She spends most of her scenes naked or half-naked.
- Spotlight-Stealing Squad: This movie is probably more about Luca's Bumbling Dad (and his affair with Luca's teacher) than Luca himself.
