|
Letters to Juliet
| Released |
9 June 2010 |
| Director |
Gary Winick |
Starring
|
Amanda Seyfried, Chris Egan, Vanessa Redgrave, Gael Garcia Bernal, Franco Nero |
| Writer(s) |
Jose Rivera, Tim Sullivan |
Producer(s)
|
Caroline Kaplan, Ellen Barkin, Mark Canton, Sharan Kapoor |
| Origin |
United States |
| Running Time |
105 minutes |
| Genre |
Romantic comedy |
| Rating |
PG |
|
|
Return to sender.
"Rom-com"...that dreaded phrase uttered by girls who want to punish boyfriends and husbands alike; these days, puts the fear of god into me. So here's a predictable review for a predictable movie; Letters to Juliet, is the story of a pretty girl in an unhappy relationship, who travels to some beautiful location and meets yet another inadequate suitor, but because this is Hollywood, falls in love and all ends well. Do you need to hear more? Well no, but I've decided to set aside for now the usual bashing of this genre of movies and review it for what it is with an open mind.
The story opens with an introduction to Sophie, played by rising star of the moment Amanda Seyfried, who is an aspiring writer restricted to fact checking for a New York magazine. She is engaged to Victor, a passionate chef who seems to be more in love with perfect spaghetti than his doe-eyed and meek fiancée, and is played by the delectable and always entertaining Gael Garcia Bernal. The couple travel to Verona, home of the ill-fated lovers Romeo and Juliet, for a "pre-honeymoon" , in an effort to get some alone time in anticipation of Victor's opening of a new restaurant in New York. However Victor’s obsession with finding the perfect mushroom (sorry, truffle) soon leaves poor dejected Sophie pining away at "Juliet's Balcony", a wall in Verona where heartbroken women write to love's great heroine, asking for advice on matters of the heart. A team of women called "Juliet's secretaries" write replies to these letters, and Sophie joins in, only to find an unanswered letter hidden in a crevice, from a woman who abandoned love many years past. Of course Sophie is intent on offering her words of wisdom to this woman, prompting her to arrive in a flurry, irritated and concerned grandson in tow, intent on finding her lost love and rekindling an old flame. Played with a grace and charm by Vanessa Redgrave, Claire warms to Sophie and both are united in their passion for love. Together they travel through the rolling hills and decadent vineyards of Italy in search of "Lorenzo", on the way learning the importance of finding your one true love - and remembering to take down an address if you plan to go looking for someone in a strange country fifty years later.
The beautiful postcard setting of Verona and the surrounding hills of Italy lend a perfect backdrop to a story that is an ode to love, and there are some strong performances, particularly from Garcia Bernal and Redgrave which are a pleasure to watch. Seyfried is quite charming as the hard-done by fiancée, and I'm not ashamed (well only a little ashamed) to admit that there are some teary moments that envelope you in a nice love-struck bubble, as the beauty of the surroundings and the charm of Italy puts a dampener on the scepticism that most of us have of "true love" in Hollywood-tinted glasses. There's even some chuckles raised as Claire, her grandson Charlie and her newly adopted grand-daughter Sophie ramble through the countryside asking every Tom, Dick and Harry (well just Lorenzo, but it is Italy) whether they remember having any affairs with an English girl when they were sixteen.
So all in all it appears to be a nicely done, formulaic love story, but there are some major points that need to be addressed. Firstly, Charlie, the "concerned grandson" (played by Christopher Egan, Nick Smith in Home and Away for anyone interested in that kind of thing!) is the most ridiculous character I have come across in a long time. He's the epitome of an English toff, all my-dahling this and stuffy shirt that; either he's meant to be playing a member of the Royal Family or Americans have an obsession with stereotypes (hmm) which is ludicrous in the extreme, and creates a completely unbelievable character. Couple this with the fact that Prince William the second is presented as an upgrade to Gael Garcia and you have a situation that I just can't get behind. The ending, which I don't need to say at this point is inevitable, is dragged out and raises far too many groans and uncomfortable shuffling in the cinema seats.
Love stories can make beautiful movies. Unfortunately Letters to Juliet isn't quite one of them.
- Eadaoin Browne |
