‘You, Me & Tuscany’ Is The Parmigiano Reggiano of Cheesy Rom Com Goodness [REVIEW]
4/5 barrel rolls
Get in loser, we’re rooting for lovably delusional romantic comedy leading ladies and the perfect men they discover thousands of miles from home. You, Me, & Tuscany with Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page is, thankfully, the reimagined take on a classic romcom recipe that it needed to be.
Let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way first. It’s easy to compare this film to While You Were Sleeping, another romantic comedy about a woman (Sandra Bullock) who pretends to be an absent man’s fiancé and winds up falling for one of his relatives. In the 1995 movie, it’s the brother and, in this movie’s case, a cousin.
Both films are also about women who are embraced warmly by everyone in their fake and real love interest’s family. That’s the most interesting comp to me, personally. In-laws don’t have to be evil, y’all! If you came to You, Me, & Tuscany to watch Bailey fall for Page, stay for her falling for the whole familia. It’s a wonderful and underrated type of story. Think about how desperately Laurie wants to be a March sister in Little Women. Think about how that could have been what happened to Dear Evan Hansen, but the mother that little liar is neglecting for a shiny new family and love interest is a saint.
I digress. Let’s get back to Bailey. Based on how charming the actress is in You, Me, & Tuscany, Hollywood should probably get working on putting her in as many romantic comedies as Bullock ASAP. As a live action Little Mermaid truther, watching Bailey step into an adult romcom role was especially gratifying. Neither While You Were Sleeping‘s leading lady Lucy nor Anna (Bailey) are rich, which I appreciate in a romantic comedy heroine.
Unlike many a romantic comedy leading lady, Anna is not a workaholic who needs to learn how to let loose, an awkward nerd who doesn’t know she’s beautiful, or a manic pixie dream girl tasked with liberating her male love interest. Neither Anna nor Michael (Page) need to fix each other, really. They’re a little bit of a grumpy/sunshine trope–but mostly just plagued by bad timing. The film introduces the audience to Anna at the tail end of an off era of her life. She’s grieving a recent death in her own family, and has given up her culinary dreams. She makes money house-sitting, a passionless source of income.
Anna’s thing, for lack of a more sophisticated word, is that she’s grown accustomed to escaping to the fantasy of other people’s lives instead of living her own. It’s not some big character flaw that a relationship has to fix. She’s in a temporary funk. So when the “opportunity” to break into an empty Italian villa presents itself? She takes it. Pretending to be the owner Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor)’s fiancé and ingratiating herself into his life is an escalation of her bad habit. The catch, of course, is that Matteo’s family is more than willing to open their lives to her. It’s as unexpected as her undeniable attraction to Michael, the golden boy cousin to Matteo’s prodigal son.
The film relies a bit too much on audience (read: Bridgerton fans) expectations when it comes to Page. To be fair, a woman near me at my screening did shout out “he burns for you” on three separate occasions. That certainly colored my experience. He doesn’t have that much to do story-wise other than show up, look pretty, and banter with Anna. I can’t really besmirch a film for doing that with its male lead. His character does keep busy. He runs a vineyard, restaurant, and delivery service in town. The conflict that changes him as a character has more to do with Matteo than Anna–a fun twist!
Plus, the afore-mentioned supporting characters that make up the Tuscany ensemble are exceptionally well drawn. Everyone is hilarious. Stella Pecollo probably runs off with the most scenes as Matteo’s horny sister Francesca. I also enjoyed Desirèe Pöpper as the comically evil brunette Isabella, Tommaso Cassissa as the young wannabe influencer Enzo. It’s easy to understand why Anna doesn’t immediately run for the hills when she gets caught.
My biggest qualm with the film is that several of the characters–Anna’s old friend Claire (Aziza Scott) and new friend Lorenzo (Marco Calvani) especially–bluntly recap the plot back to her for the audience’s benefit in that way that makes me wonder if the movie thinks I’m on my phone. That type of over-explain-y dialogue really grates on me as a critic and insults me as a viewer. However, I am willing to give this movie a pass only because the plot is sometimes so wild that I would probably be repeating it back to Anna if I was her friend too. They kind of make it work.
For all of its familiar formulaic tropes, the film does zig when you expect it to zag just enough to keep you on your toes. It’s such a good time at the movies, especially with a crowd willing to hoot and holler. And hey, if you can’t handle a little cheese, maybe you shouldn’t be in Italy!
(featured image: Universal Studios)
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