Better than the annoying Taylor Swift song: Movie Review for "Letters to Juliet"

So the latest chick flick to hit the screen is the much advertised (Seriously how many times can they advertise one movie on Bravo?) LETTERS TO JULIET. To keep my record of seeing every Romantic Comedy that has come out in the past 10 years .... I of course Fandangoed my way right to the theater.

So the questions remains.....

The basic premise (if you live in Zimbabwe and haven't seen the trailer yet) is that 20-something Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) and her fiancee (Gael Garcia Bernal) go on a 'pre-honeymoon' trip to the infamous city of of Romeo and Juliet, Verona, Italy. Sophie's "I'm hot-shit-and-totally-into-myself-NY-chef" fiancee seems to be interested in everything except her, giving her a lot of free time to wander around. Of course she is drawn to Verona's most reknowed Tourist Trap .... Juliet's House. A mecca for lovers all around the world and where the love lorn leave notes to Shakespeare's heroine asking for her help.

Now why people think that a girl that had less years on her than Taylor Swift and ended up stabbing herself is a good person to ask for love advice.... well that's another issue all together.

But this is besides the point... Sophie stumbles upon a letter lost in the cracks of the wall for decades and brings it to the "Secretaries of Juliet" ... a real group that collects the letters and writes back to each person a reply. To amuse herself while her fiancee is off being a jackass somewhere, she joins the writing brigade and writes a belated reply to Claire (Vanessa Redgrave), which prompts the near instant arrival (which is LAUGHABLE if you know anything about the speed of Italian post) of the woman and her yummy yet snotty grandson, Charlie (Chris Egan).

Much to the dismay of Charlie, the three of them go on a seemingly wild-goose chase around Tuscany to find Claire's lost love, Lorenzo.

Now we all know how it's going to end. We know that despite the odds she will find her Lorenzo. We know that Sophie will wise up that her fiancee is a tool and end up with the snobby Brit who is really a sweetheart underneath his "Oh I'm so jaded by my past wah wah wah" shield.

But dammit,  when Lorenzo rides up on the stupid cliche white horse you cry anyways.

So in conclusion ..... the movie is ooey-gooey romantic drivel. Completely predictable and saturated with saccharine.... But I ate it up. Come on, you do not go to a Romantic Comedy to ponder the deeper meaning of life and be shocked and awed with creativity. You go to there to cry and to leave the theater telling your girlfriend "I want to find my Lorenzo!! Let's go to Verona! God why do our lives suck?".

No one is doubting the complex subtleties of a 1982 Bordeaux ..... but sometimes all you want is a Sunkist ... in all its cheap, bad for you, sugary goodness.

Although this particular flick has two unique things going for it.

1. The scenery and cinematography are GORGEOUS. If you leave the theater not considering quitting your job and running off to Italy this summer for one fleeting moment.... well there is something wrong with you.

Italy is prettier than your country

2. The casting of Vanessa Redgrave as Claire and Franco Nero as her long lost love Lorenzo. This is a little Art Imitating Life. Vanessa and Franco actually just got married a few years ago. They met on the set of CAMELOT in 1967, the same year the Oscar-winner divorced her first husband. But they split up soon after the birth of their son Carlos in 1968. 36 years later they rekindled the romance after Redgrave insisted she couldn't imagine spending her life with anyone else and they married in 2006. 

Alright you can say it:

AWWWWWWWWWWWWW

So Letters to Juliet gets a thumbs up from Kendallina. No it won't change your life... but it will leave you with a smile on your face. 

And if you are heartbroken and wish you could write Juliet for advice..... I have some good news for you. You don't have to go to Verona. She emails. Not a joke. And she WRITES BACK! 

How do I know this? I may have written her before ......... (yes, I'm lame)......  And I got a incredibly sweet email back in broken English. God bless the Italians and their quest to keep the romance alive. 

WRITE OR EMAIL JULIET

So dear readers, I bid you Buona Notte ....

.... If not 'morrow' whenever I feel like blogging next. 

P.S.  Do y'all like the new blog layout?? :)

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