“L’uomo in più" is not just a football tactic but the story of homonymy. Two protagonists with the same name and with two similar destinies, successes and tragic fall.
The film tells the story of Tony Pisapia, very successful singer of popular music, and Antonio Pisapia, a football player of great promise. At the height of their careers comes the defeat: Tony, cocaine addict and unapologetic womanizer, is caught in bed with a minor, by his wife and mother, while Antonio breaks the cruciate ligament during a game.
Fallen into the abyss of loneliness and estranged from all, the two men initially are able to continue to hope, to have the energy to find success of the past, or a new realization of their existence. But fate is against them and the epilogue only marks the difference of their personalities.
A story of double and reflections, but protagonists are fundamentally different and opposites: the player is a sad man who is not integrated in the football world, however Tony is a passionate, amoral, driven by his instinct towards excesses.
Dark and sordid atmosphere, a sense of loneliness almost constant, alternating by light rhythm of 80’s.
Sorrentino describes the human soul as voted to excess. The human being, free to express themselves, it is prone to overindulge in the pursuit of impulses, passions, feelings. But often this freedom is nothing more than a social label, which has nothing to do with its essence. Lost everything they owned, the two protagonists have a great opportunity to rediscover themselves, free from any label. But the illusion of being "someone" wins on chance to finally be themselves.