"Life Is Beautiful" By Duane Byrge Got a yen for "A Day at the Races" or "A Nignt at the Opera" and a dose of "The Great Dictator"? Italy's Roberto Benigni has paid homage to the Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin in "La Vita E Bella" (Life Is Beautiful). It's a nimble, romantic farce that combines the mayhem antics of the Marx Brothers with the romantic and political elements of a Chaplin escapade. Stacked with deliriously funny slapstick, this Miramax film is a marvelously manic entertainment. Unfortunately, Benigni's comic destirity loses its wallop in the film's laborious second half, a good-hearted but forced treatise on the evils of fascism. Despite its second-half ponderousness, "La Vita E Bella" should do mucho bella boxoffice in select sites for Miramax. In this comic romp set during World War II, Benigni stars as Guido, an innocent in the Little Tramp tradition whose kind-hearted naiveté is mixed with a mischievous mowie. Guido has dreams : he wants to open a book store and he yearns to marry a beautiful young school teacher, Dora (Nicoletta Braschi). In both instances, his energy and yearnings outdistance his personal qualities : he knows little or nothing about business and with his tiny frame and spindly hair, he's not exactly a dashing romantic figure. Like most guys, he's pitted against the establishment bureaucracy for his business interests and a dashingly rich rival for his lady love. Yes, he's woefully overmatched, which is what makes him so endearing. What's funnest about "La Vita E Bella" is when little Guido is trouncing authority figures, be they pompous women in big hats, smarmy functionaires, priggish romantic rivals, or the Third Reich. The comedy is keenest when it's lightweight, when Benigni's slapdash sorcery makes mockery of authority figures and social ogres. His noodly movements, combined with some blazing farce, make for constant belly laughs and gurgly chuckles. Unfortunately, when Benigni turns big-themed and serious, he founders. The narrative takes a massive leap into a treatise against fascism and the horrors of anti-Semitism. Although Benigni's feelings are to be lauded, his eloquence, so powerful in his goofy farce, is muted when he turns preachy and serioso. Paradoxically, but not surprisingly, he's at his most powerful thematically when he's being the silliest - same as Chaplin. Despite the film's preachy and overreaching qualities, "La Vita E Bella" is a genuine delight, recalling the great era of silent comedy. Once again like Chaplin, Benigni is not particularly resourceful with a camera, but his gag construction is truly gifted and articulate. To his credit, he doesn't resort to cute closeups and over-punctuation in the excessive manner that Chaplin was prone to indulge in. In short, his character is a captivating Everyman, identifiable and resilient. As his lady love, Braschi is indeed entrancing, exuding both innocence and desire. The technical contributions are mucho bella, particularly composer Nicola Piovani's bursting-at-the-seams musical flourishes, which add sparkle and sly countertpoint to the foolery.