NEW YORK (OSV News) – For the price of a movie ticket, viewers can enjoy a brief sojourn in the Italian countryside thanks to director Kat Coiro’s romantic comedy “You, Me & Tuscany” (Universal).
As scripted by Ryan Engle, however, there’s more love than logic to be found in the film. Additionally, some wayward morality and humor, while incidental, indicate that only grown-ups should tag along for this picturesque ride.
Unemployed New York-based housesitter Anna (Halle Bailey) is at a low ebb in her life when she has a chance encounter with traveling Italian businessman Matteo (Lorenzo De Moor). He regales his newfound companion with tales and images of his idyllic, mostly unoccupied home in the titular region of Italy and of the boisterous clan amidst whom he was raised.
An aspiring chef who, as it happens, was planning a trip to the Bel Paese with her mother before mom’s untimely death from cancer, Anna is emboldened — much to the chagrin of her sarcastically sensible best friend Claire (Aziza Scott) — to use the plane ticket she had long ago purchased for an impulsive trip across the Atlantic.
Upon arriving in Matteo’s small hometown, though, Anna belatedly discovers that the community is celebrating its annual festival and there is not a hotel room to be had in the entire region. So, seeing no alternative, she takes up residence in Matteo’s underutilized dwelling.
No sooner has Anna settled in than she’s discovered by Matteo’s mother, Gabriella (Isabella Ferrari), and his formidable grandmother, Nonna Alessia (Stefania Casini). To avoid arrest for tresspassing, Anna spontaneously pretends to be Matteo’s fiancee.
Although she’s thereupon embraced by most of Matteo’s family, from whom he has temporarily become estranged, Anna clashes with his adoptive brother, Michael (Regé-Jean Page). Yet, predictably, it’s not long before their mutual antagonism gives way to a very different emotion.
The stilted complications that follow — despite her feelings for Michael, Anna finds it impossible to abandon her ruse and tell the truth — are offset by the lovely landscape, the pleasurable lifestyle and a collection of amiable, if stereotyped, characters. Still, moviegoers committed to biblical values will have to endure some unwelcome interludes as the plot unfolds.
Anna’s initial meeting with Matteo, for instance, ends with a visit to his hotel room where the two prepare for a spur-of-the-moment roll in the hay. Though they’re comically impeded from realizing their plan, Anna and Matteo’s potential commitment-free clutch is treated in a thoroughly romanticized manner.
Matteo and Michael’s married sister Francesca (Stella Pecollo), moreover, literally boasts about the affair she’s carrying on with a local plumber. She paradoxically presents this relationship as helpful to the maintenance of her marriage.
Yet the point is for the audience to garner laughs from Francesca’s misguided adventures. Along these lines — presumably for the amusement of gamers familiar with the Super Mario universe — Francesca’s adulterous partner turns out to be named Luigi.
Such distasteful moments are the exception rather than the rule in Anna’s story. So mature moviegoers can slough them off and concentrate instead on her amore for Michael — and, no less importantly, on her magnificent-looking bruschetta.
The film contains skewed values, including implicit approval of casual sex and a frivolous treatment of adultery, a few sexual jokes, at least one instance each of profanity and rough language, several milder oaths as well as occasional crude and crass talk. The OSV News classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
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