A charming performance from Halle Bailey and gorgeous Italian vistas (and meals) go a long way toward making this slight rom-com a springtime pleasure.
A certain demographic of the public has long lamented the absence of the kind of film that used to be a staple of the multiplex: movies about and for grown-ups. Whether searing dramas with relevant themes or romantic comedies about attractive people falling in love, these mid-budget features aimed at adults have become endangered species on the big screen. And while You, Me & Tuscany doesn’t rival the best of the rom-coms of recent generations, its very existence as a movie that’s being projected for the price of a ticket (rather than being streamed for the price of a subscription) is cause for celebration.
And if that sounds like damning with faint praise, it is; beyond its relative novelty as a wide release bereft of explosions, superheroes, and awards ambitions, You, Me & Tuscany offers a well-worn fake-fiancé plot plus travelogue. It’s not without pleasures of its own, starting with a winsome and winning lead performance by Halle Bailey (The Little Mermaid) as Anna, a housesitter stuck in a rut.
Just a few years ago, Anna was a promising culinary student who was all set to travel to Italy with her mother, who had ambitions of opening a restaurant. Anna dropped out of school when mom got sick, and then stopped cooking together after she died. But a chance encounter with globe-trotting Tuscan real-estate agent Mateo (Lorenzo de Moor, Another Simple Favor) in a Manhattan hotel bar inspires Anna to take her never-used airline ticket and go visit the small village and family restaurant that Mateo left behind.
The local summer festival means a lack of lodgings, so Anna breaks into Mateo’s unused villa; when his mother Gabriella (Isabella Ferrari, The Great Beauty) and grandmother Nonna Alessia (Stefania Casini, 1900) show up to clean the place — and spot Anna wearing Nonna’s old ring, which the interloper found in a drawer — they assume Anna must be Mateo’s fiancée. Matters are complicated when Anna meets Michael (Regé-Jean Page, Bridgerton), Mateo’s cousin and adopted brother, and sparks fly.
Rather, sparks are supposed to fly. Bailey and Page are, individually, dynamic and charismatic performers, but between them, they summon so little chemistry that director Kat Coiro (Marry Me) has to get them soaking wet — twice (courtesy of a sprinkler system in Michael’s vineyard) — to give them an aura of passion. Cinematographer Danny Ruhlmann (Anyone But You) fully understands the assignment, taking a slow pan up and down Page’s soaking, shirtless torso.
The screenplay by Ryan Engle (Rampage) goes absolutely nowhere you wouldn’t expect, from Mateo’s surprise appearance in the village to the sudden reveal of his troublemaking former fiancée. Romances like this are about discovering delightful little byways on a pre-determined journey, and the film finds them through an assortment of engaging supporting characters, including Anna’s pal Claire (the very funny Aziza Scott disappears far too frequently), friendly cabbie Lorenzo (Marco Calvani, Netflix’s The Four Seasons), and Mateo’s sister Francesca (Stella Pecollo). If there’s one performance that gives the film poignancy and stakes where the screenplay offers none, it’s Paolo Sassanelli as patriarch Vincenzo: whether he’s expressing disappointment and regret over his relationship with Mateo or offering Anna the confidence-boost she needs to get her back to cooking, Sassanelli’s quiet intensity elevates the film to its most emotionally satisfying moments.
Non-Italian viewers checking out You, Me & Tuscany just for the travelogue of it all get lots to look at, from the breathtaking countryside to some brilliant food styling, including a dinner table overflowing with delights, an outdoor produce market bursting with vibrant options, and the cooking of a risotto dotted with multi-colored vegetables. Another treat for anyone who’s visited the country is getting to watch Anna ride in a number of only-in-Italy vehicles, from a two-seater taxi and a three-wheel mini–pickup truck to a souped-up sports car.
This is also a film about Black characters that isn’t also about, as my former podcast co-host Ify Nwadiwe would say, “the struggle”; the Italians goof on Anna for being American (the way she pronounces her name, her love of peanut butter), but her ethnicity never enters into it. Michael’s mother was Gabriella’s sister, so no one’s fazed by a woman of color showing up and claiming to be Mateo’s fiancée. Characters, and viewers, of all ethnicities deserve their fantasy fluff where everyone gets along.
You, Me & Tuscany has all the heft of a squash blossom, and it’s similarly tasty without being filling. But sometimes, you just want one anyway.