On this episode of the 2010 film series, "The Amanda Seyfried Show" (previous episodes include Dear John and Chloe), our fearless heroine puts on yet another diverse hat, playing a young New Yorker fact-checker who journeys to romantic Italy and discovers love for a new friend...and for herself. It's the feel-good Seyfried movie of the year -- though that's not such a hard feat when your other releases this year include a Nicholas Sparks weepie and a twisted Atom Egoyan psycho-thriller.
Yes, Letters to Juliet is quite a happy movie, indeed. A film so happy, in fact, it fails to realize that its premise is so stale and its depiction of romance so old-fashioned that another Shakepeare remake would seem fresh by comparison. Wouldn't it be lovely to travel to Verona and be swept up in the romance of the sumptuous atmosphere? And wouldn't it be magical to find a decades-old letter written from one star-crossed lover to the other? More astounding, still, would be to answer the letter and set off on a journey to reconnect these old flames after all these years. Why, the only thing that could top all that is if, while on a kooky road trip to find the missing half of the romantic duo, you engage in a playful war of words with the seemingly cantankerous grandson of the woman who wrote the original letter...and slowly discovered the hopeless romantic hidden beneath his cold, hard shell.
Sophie (Seyfried) aspires -- like all movie fact-checkers -- to be the Next Great Writer. She is engaged to the vibrant chef Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal), whose passion for food and wine has far eclipsed his passion for Sophie. Victor is one of those Movie Boyfriends who always has an excuse for why he won't be joining his lover on an enchanted journey, and therefore surrenders any existing rights to audience support in the quest for our heroine's heart.
The couple goes on vacation to Italy, where Victor yearns to discover Italian cooking secrets and spends much of the film's first act explaining in great detail why he won't be present for much of the second or third acts. That leaves Sophie to wander the streets of Verona, where she finds a famous courtyard where spurned lovers, hopeless romantics, and other heartbroken souls leave letters for "Juliet," Shakespeare's most famous young lover from Verona. Sophie discovers that the letters are collected and answered by a group of colorful Italian women whom she befriends because, let's face it, movies are just more fun when groups of colorful Italian women are added to the mix.
It is there that Sophie discovers the aforementioned letter, written over 50 years earlier from a woman named Claire to her lover, Lorenzo Bartolini. Moved by the letter's rustic age and classic romanticism, Sophie decides to respond to Claire's missive, and in so doing sets the rest of the film into motion. A much older Claire (Vanessa Redgrave, in the film's most charming performance) arrives in Verona to meet Sophie, along with her grandson/chauffer, Charlie (Christopher Egan), who looks like a British Ryan Phillippe. Together the threesome travels the Italian countryside, visiting every Lorenzo Bartolini Sophie can dig up (see, those fact-checking skills come in handy!). Most of them are goofy old coots, and one resembles what one could conceivably describe as The Best-Looking Man in the World. Guess which one is Claire's old flame?
Letters to Juliet goes through the romantic motions, frequently attempting boisterous PG-rated humor and occasionally pausing for several would-be poignant false conclusions on its way to giving audiences exactly what they want. Seyfried is a wonderful actress and it's nice to see her smile for a change, but even she seems a little bored with the material she is performing. Redgrave is ravishing in the film's most pivotal supporting role, a performance that proves charm can be injected into even the most old-fashioned screenplays, and, in light of recent events, serves as a celebration of the same power and charm her late sister, Lynn, and late daughter, Natasha Richardson, brought to the screen.
Redgrave glows, but Letters to Juliet is worn and faded like a letter we've read too many times to take seriously.
Yes, Letters to Juliet is quite a happy movie, indeed. A film so happy, in fact, it fails to realize that its premise is so stale and its depiction of romance so old-fashioned that another Shakepeare remake would seem fresh by comparison. Wouldn't it be lovely to travel to Verona and be swept up in the romance of the sumptuous atmosphere? And wouldn't it be magical to find a decades-old letter written from one star-crossed lover to the other? More astounding, still, would be to answer the letter and set off on a journey to reconnect these old flames after all these years. Why, the only thing that could top all that is if, while on a kooky road trip to find the missing half of the romantic duo, you engage in a playful war of words with the seemingly cantankerous grandson of the woman who wrote the original letter...and slowly discovered the hopeless romantic hidden beneath his cold, hard shell.
Sophie (Seyfried) aspires -- like all movie fact-checkers -- to be the Next Great Writer. She is engaged to the vibrant chef Victor (Gael Garcia Bernal), whose passion for food and wine has far eclipsed his passion for Sophie. Victor is one of those Movie Boyfriends who always has an excuse for why he won't be joining his lover on an enchanted journey, and therefore surrenders any existing rights to audience support in the quest for our heroine's heart.
The couple goes on vacation to Italy, where Victor yearns to discover Italian cooking secrets and spends much of the film's first act explaining in great detail why he won't be present for much of the second or third acts. That leaves Sophie to wander the streets of Verona, where she finds a famous courtyard where spurned lovers, hopeless romantics, and other heartbroken souls leave letters for "Juliet," Shakespeare's most famous young lover from Verona. Sophie discovers that the letters are collected and answered by a group of colorful Italian women whom she befriends because, let's face it, movies are just more fun when groups of colorful Italian women are added to the mix.
It is there that Sophie discovers the aforementioned letter, written over 50 years earlier from a woman named Claire to her lover, Lorenzo Bartolini. Moved by the letter's rustic age and classic romanticism, Sophie decides to respond to Claire's missive, and in so doing sets the rest of the film into motion. A much older Claire (Vanessa Redgrave, in the film's most charming performance) arrives in Verona to meet Sophie, along with her grandson/chauffer, Charlie (Christopher Egan), who looks like a British Ryan Phillippe. Together the threesome travels the Italian countryside, visiting every Lorenzo Bartolini Sophie can dig up (see, those fact-checking skills come in handy!). Most of them are goofy old coots, and one resembles what one could conceivably describe as The Best-Looking Man in the World. Guess which one is Claire's old flame?
Letters to Juliet goes through the romantic motions, frequently attempting boisterous PG-rated humor and occasionally pausing for several would-be poignant false conclusions on its way to giving audiences exactly what they want. Seyfried is a wonderful actress and it's nice to see her smile for a change, but even she seems a little bored with the material she is performing. Redgrave is ravishing in the film's most pivotal supporting role, a performance that proves charm can be injected into even the most old-fashioned screenplays, and, in light of recent events, serves as a celebration of the same power and charm her late sister, Lynn, and late daughter, Natasha Richardson, brought to the screen.
Redgrave glows, but Letters to Juliet is worn and faded like a letter we've read too many times to take seriously.
