Avoiding the studied poetic imagery of [La Strada], Vitelloni is at once a subtler and a more perceptive work. The protagonists, no longer alienated from the conventions of civilization, are now isolated within the social organism. Existing under the watchful observation of family and friends, these vitelloni, too young to have fought in the war but old enough to have suffered its consequences, are trapped in a wasteland of their own devising.

The young wastrels chosen to represent the modern generation in Vitelloni are carefully differentiated as illustrations of Fellini's ambitious theme…. These young men, their thinking molded erratically by Hemingway, Nietzsche, and the Hollywood Myth, dream of big-game hunting in Africa with Esther Williams, but settle for a drunken evening at the local pool hall. (pp. 24-5)

Fellini is incisive in mocking the empty pretensions of these youths, and employs a series of trenchant symbolic images to illustrate this contemporary wasteland….

The distinction of Vitelloni, however, lies beyond the symbolism, in Fellini's understanding of his characters, and his unusual sympathy for their problems. The rich comedy of this film is intensified by the compassion of the director's approach. There have been many faithless lovers on the screen, but the childish Fausto, whose delighted pleasure in a successful attempt of seduction turns immediately to overwhelming remorse over the tears of his betrayed bride, is a unique and memorable characterization…. In a way of life seemingly marked by unexpected variations of conduct, the final pattern is constant. Fellini's subtle technique underlines this meaning, for this technically unconventional film ends within the confines of a rigid artistic frame. Leaving the other vitelloni to continue along their fixed and unregenerate path, Moraldo, the observer, makes his final agonizing decision, and exits from the scene. As his train slowly moves away to an unknown destination, the child who represents the new generation steps tentatively onto the railroad track, and, balancing precariously along this symbol of the open road, returns to the game of life. (p. 25)