Frustrated desire motivates the Sicilian newlyweds in this improbable sex comedy when they are discovered to be brother and sister just before their marriage can be consummated. They receive this news in a very unwelcome telegram, and spend much of the rest of the film trying to alleviate their frustration by various stratagems. Some of them are fairly innocent, such as novel-reading and pious works; others include seriously considering the option of incest. They have a number of embarrassing sexual encounters outside their relationship, but are saved from even more demeaning situations when a second telegram informs them that the first was definitely a mistake.
~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide