In my review of Anaconda recently, I said that not every movie aims for greatness or being award-worthy. Sometimes it just wants to have a frothy good time without breaking new ground. Well, that seems to be what You, Me & Tuscany aims for and makes us swoon for either the cast or the stunning scenery. Well, for me it’s definitely the latter. If we’re to judge by the location alone, this movie sure is swoon-worthy.

Halle Bailey stars as Anna, who, when we first saw her in the opening, was living the high life in Manhattan. She’s got a swanky apartment, wardrobe, and a cute little dog, as if she just stepped out of Sex and the City or Emily in Paris. Then we learn she is house-sitting for a rich client (Nia Vardalos) who’s furious she’s wearing her clothes, down to her La Perla lingerie. As a house-sitter, Anna often lives other people’s glamorous lives as a way to escape her own after her mother died. She barely even has an apartment of her own, as she often bugs her hotel-hostess bestie Claire (Aziza Scott) for a spare room at the hotel she works at.

The VO tells us that she dropped out of culinary school to take care of her sick mother. The film wants us to see her as a saint for putting her life on pause to care for her mom. How else could we excuse Anna for not looking for a real job and being so carefree that she’d jump into a one-night stand with a rich Italian guy who shows her his huge, um, villa? After a sort of ‘meet cute’ with Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor) at a bar, one thing led to another (in a PG-13 fashion), and before you know it, she’s flown all the way to Tuscany and ends up crashing at Matteo’s beautiful villa.

Just like her Manhattan client, Anna happily wears things that don’t belong to her, including a ginormous engagement ring she stumbled upon in Matteo’s drawer. Everything about this movie is extremely predictable, so if you guess that Matteo’s family would think she’s about to marry their wayward son, well, you hit the jackpot. What initially seems like a harmless misunderstanding gets complicated when sparks fly between Anna and Matteo’s brother, Michael (Regé-Jean Page), who now runs the family’s sprawling vineyard.

It’s a tale we’ve encountered countless times in various rom-coms. Most Hallmark romances probably follow a similar plot in different picturesque settings. All the classic romantic comedy tropes are on full display here. A pair of eventual lovers who don’t hit it off right away, check. A bunch of misunderstandings that conveniently get sorted out, check. Tipsy flirting over wine, check. Rainy moments that lead to a gratuitous shirtless scene to flaunt the hunky male lead’s eight-pack abs, check, check. We even get a twist on When Harry Met Sally’s ‘I’ll have what she’s having’ moment with a perfectly timed tourist bus that seems to appear only when Anna and Michael are together in the vineyard.

Writers Ryan Engle and Kristin Engle have not done a romantic screenplay before, which explains the clichés overload and lack of fresh ideas. In fact, this is Kristin’s screenwriting debut; perhaps she got a credit just for giving her husband some notes? [shrug] Director Kat Coiro, on the other hand, is no stranger to rom-com; she directed Marry Me, where J Lo essentially played herself in a variation of Notting Hill. Leaning heavily into escapist entertainment, this movie is pretty well-paced, and the scenery of Tuscan summer is exactly what I needed after a long winter.

I appreciate that the movie promotes body positivity by not casting a female lead who looks like a runway model. What truly matters is charisma, and Bailey has that in abundance. I’ve only seen her in The Little Mermaid and The Color Purple, and she’s got a wonderfully expressive face and an irresistible smile that lights up the room, or in this case, the whole villa. She makes it easy to root for Anna, even though she is a mess, and her whole journey starts out with a lie.

While she and Page don’t have the most riveting chemistry, they do make for a cute couple. This is Bailey’s star vehicle, and she makes for a lively, spirited protagonist. Page certainly is tall, dark, and handsome, and he dials up his charm here, but his character, Michael, is devoid of an interesting personality. I suppose it’s more of a writing issue than an acting one, but Page doesn’t really elevate the material he’s given.

The supporting cast is made up of mostly Italian actors, and they’re quite a blast. Stella Pecollo and Marco Calvani as Matteo’s sister Francesca and Anna’s taxi-driver-turned-best-friend Lorenzo are the comic relief, while Paolo Sassanelli and Stefania Casini add a dollop of gravitas as Matteo’s dad and grandma, respectively.

True to its title, the other star of the movie is Tuscany itself, especially the picturesque rolling hills of Val d’Orcia, adorned with cypress trees, vineyards, and olive groves, which is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Filmed in Pienza, the hilltop town is bathed in light and warm sunshine. DP Danny Ruhlmann shot it as if he were creating a tourism commercial, which makes me want to book a trip to Tuscany, pronto!

It’s entertaining to watch the summer festival and the fun barrel-rolling race as Matteo and Michael’s sibling rivalry reaches its peak. I love the cooking scene at Matteo’s family’s restaurant, which makes me hungry for some pasta and bruschetta. This movie is more of a leftover fettuccine than a fresh, hearty pappardelle al cinghiale.

If you’re generally averse to rom-com, You, Me & Tuscany likely won’t change your mind. I’ve always felt that the best rom-coms are behind us (I so miss Nora Ephron!), and this movie confirms it. Still, it serves as amusing escapism that makes a trip to the cinema worthwhile.

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