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Plot: A young couple goes to Italy, so the groom to be can learn about Italian cuisine for a restaurant he intends to open in New York. While entertaining herself, while he is occupied with this project, the fiance stumbles upon a wall, where women leave notes to "juliet," of Romeo and juliet ilk. The fiance ends up finding and answering a note that has been stuck in the wall for approximatley 50 years. In so doing, a romantic adventure unfolds. Starring:Amanda Seyfried, Vanessa Redgrave, Gael Garcia Bernal, Franco Nero, Charles Egan Directed by: Gary Winick |
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Genre: Romantic Comedy |
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| Dan |
Terri |
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While the premise for this movie had immense potential in its genre, the acting of Venessa Redgrave was stupendous, and the scenery was gorgeous, the acting of the younger members of the cast and their dialogue was so poor that it gets a resounding thumbs down from both Terri and Dan. I am open to equal employment opportunity, but when the lead male character in a romantic comedy is unable to convince me in front of the camera that his character prefers women over men as love interests, it's time to fire the casting director. Ask yourself, how would you enjoy a movie such as this, if your pre-eminent question throughout is, "Is that guy gay?" To be fair I was able to answer the question by the end of the film by adding only a single word to it, "Is that guy EVER gay!" If he is or he isn't, I don't care. I can only respond to the body language and biofeedback throughout. He gave a very convincing performance in any event, although I doubt it's the one the director had in mind. And, it's very unfortunate that we didn't get to see the movie the screenwriter had in mind, because the overall plot was clever enough, if coupled with sparkling dialogue to have the desired effect and wind up with a touching ending, perhaps even requiring a hanky or two. I thought the dialogue of the younger people (approximately 30 and under) was lame. But, oddly enough, I didn't notice that shortcoming in the Vanessa Redgrave role, so maybe it had as much to do with the poor acting as it did with the words spoken. I'm not sure. So, this is a thumbs down for me and a C+ in my grade book. It would have been worse, but, while the lead actress lacked talent, she was pretty, as was the scenery. There were light and airy aspects that kept me from rating it lower, and, as I said, the premise was potentially compelling. To use the borrow of my architecture professors, they just didn't "pull it off."
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Terri thought this movie was lousy and wanted to leave before it was over. She didn't pick up on the lead male actors homosexuality until after I mentioned it. But, once I did, she knew what I was talking about. She thought the scenery was gorgeous, the setting quaint and the acting poor, as well, except for Vanessa Redgrave. She speculated that "You can probably get a very good older actress for a whole lot less with greater availability than a younger one." She had no hesitation whatsoever in giving the film a thumbs down!
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