YOU, ME & TUSCANY
Starring: Halle Bailey, Regé-Jean Page, Marco Calvani, Aziza Scott, Isabella Ferrari, Lorenzo de Moor, Stefania Casini, Stella Pecollo, and Paolo Sassanelli
Director: Kat Coiro
AMARÚ
The opening exposition dump in You, Me & Tuscany is predictably cheesy and corny. But once the explanations are finished, the film cutely uses its corn and cheese for good. It embodies the essence of 1990s romantic comedies: two leads in Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page with palpable chemistry, a serendipitous screenplay that is whimsical, hopeful, and straight-up ridiculous, and an ensemble cast of bubbly characters. The latter who help the saccharine story go down easier by giving each actor something worth caring about. Also, watching a Black woman get away with things they’re never allowed to get away with is always a plus.
ADRIANO
For personal reasons, You, Me & Tuscany gets brownie points for its portrayal of Italian families and culture that hit home. Otherwise, this is weak. Director Kat Coiro knows that she’s making an obvious Hallmark-esque romp, but instead of using that knowledge to make something more fun, she seemingly embraced the cheapness as a cop-out. One of the most beautiful countries on earth is shot flatly, and even as a rom-com, it’s not very funny, and the chemistry between Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Page is nonexistent. I have no ill will, I’m just gonna forget about it immediately.
ROBERT
As I think about You, Me & Tuscany, the descriptor I keep coming back to is quaint. If you enjoyed romantic comedies in the 1990s, you would notice all the familiar beats, but with the rub that, outside of one or two sparse moments, the romance and the comedy are aggressively lacking. There are some colorful characters on the margins, but considering how the movie’s success rests on the two leads, especially a noticeably overmatched Halle Bailey, the film breaks apart like an old bruschetta. The vibrance of the Italian countryside is better represented on a screensaver.
