It Can't Be!

"It Can't Be!" (1975) is a Soviet comedy anthology you can watch online on iFILM, directed by Leonid Gaidai from three short stories by satirist Mikhail Zoshchenko.

Gaidai splits the film into three tales of petty bourgeois life. The first follows a hapless groom caught in an embarrassing predicament the night before his wedding. The second sends its hero on a chaotic resort fling. The third drops the audience into a rowdy provincial wedding where the guests drink too much and manners collapse fast. All three share the same DNA — petty swindling, self-delusion, and the unshakeable conviction that nobody will notice.

The ensemble is remarkable: Mikhail Pugovkin, Oleg Dal, Natalya Selezneva, Vyacheslav Nevinny, Leonid Kuravlyov, Georgy Vitsin, Savely Kramarov. For Soviet comedy fans, this is essentially an all-star lineup packed into 100 minutes. Stream "It Can't Be!" (1975) online on iFILM.