Pizza My Heart

Pizza My Heart

While it's not widely known, Christopher Columbus' voyage to America was initially a pizza delivery.

And while that factoid has been lost to history, this comedy assures America's obsession with pizza hasn't.

In fair Verona, New Jersey is where we lay our scene: two families, The Prestolanis (Michael Badalucco, Natalija Nogulich) and The Montebellos (Dan Hedaya, Gina Hecht), war with each other over who sells the best pie in town. But their long-standing feud is about to be turned on its head when Gina (Shiri Appleby) falls in love with her sworn enemy Joe. (Eyal Podell). The lovers must now bring peace to their pizzerias.

ABC Family's modern retelling of Shakespeare's tragedy, this 2005 movie-of-the-week is a goofy but guilty pleasure that tones down the calamity of the play and gives way to zaniness.

Lastly, when ordering from a Romeo and Juliet themed pizzeria, get them to hold the poison. Yellow Light

vidiotreviews.blogspot.ca

This unrelentingly adorbs retelling of "Romeo and Juliet" imagines Shakespeare's play as a story of two Italian-American families with competing pizza places.

The Prestolanis and the Montebellos of Verona, N.J. (wink, wink), whose pizza places are inexplicably side by side and separated by a tall, brick wall like in "The Fantasticks," have hated each other's guts for centuries.

One family makes a pizza known for its wonderful cheese combination, the other for its delicious sauce.

When a Frenchman (!) comes to town looking to franchise a pizza place for no good reason other than it services the plot, Joe (Romeo) Montebello and Gina (Juliet) Prestolani must overcome their relatives' feud to save the family businesses and their star-crossed romance, too.

Populated with scenery-chewing character actors famous for portraying bombastic Italians, including Michael Badalucco (best known as lawyer Jimmy Berlutti in TV's "The Practice") and perpetually flustered Dan Hedaya (Carla's husband on "Cheers" and "The Tortellis"), the stupidly titled "Pizza My Heart" is actually quite delightful.

The blend of romance, genuine comedy, and Shakespeare references so subtle they might even get past your high school English teacher really, really works for some crazy reason.

I'm a sap for "Romeo and Juliet" adaptations, whether it's the '60s musical "West Side Story," '80s grindhouse sleaze "China Girl," the Jet Li chopsocky actioner "Romeo Must Die" or DTV kiddie fare "Romeo and Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss," the latter of which tells the story with, not kidding, animated sea lions.

This one's more like the sea lions one than Abel Ferrara's grim "China Girl," in that it foregoes the "tragedy" part of Shakespeare's tragedy and focuses more on a "love conquers all" theme that would have made the Bard throw the heck up, but is totally befitting of ABC Family, on which "Pizza My Heart" premiered about a decade ago.

And as such, it's a lovely way to spend an evening with your spouse.

I was skeptical about this new version of Romeo and Juliet. Not for idea, noble always, but for...ingredients. Two Italian families, makers of pizza, in terrible rivalry . They children fall in love one for other but parents, especially fathers... An opportunity , impliying a competition, not very fair at beginning , a fire and a wise priest are pieces of reconciliation and succes ...together - near second happy couple-.

I am not a fan of Shiri Appleby and in this film her character seems without salt of pepper. But I like Michael Badalucco and Natalija Nogulich as charming couple and I appreciate the effort of Eyall Podell as Romeo.

Not last, applauses for priest. And the conclusion - poor restaurants and splendid result of ashes.

I got sick watching this movie(and I like pizza). The storyline isn't that bad, but the idea of two families competing over pizza is ridiculous. What is so important in the restaurant industry? Especially in some Italian families who make pizzas(how original). I generally don't like romance comedies, but this one beats them all(except Maid in Manhattan). The acting , the directing and all that represents cinematographic work is quite mediocre, but the biggest problem remains the subject of this movie.Don't watch it unless you want to torture yourself or you are more twisted like the ones who enjoy something like Cannibal Holocaust and really like idiotic romances. Plus I think this whole movie is more offending to the Italian people than any gangster flick.

I don't usually take time to watch TV movies with commercials, but this was on at a good time, featured actors I like, and had a catchy title. Never mind that this story has been made many times over (Romeo & Juliet, if you didn't already know)...familiarity with the plot in this case adds to its charm, even though one knows in advance that there will be few, if any, surprises.

In this version, competing restaurants/recipes provide fuel for the families' feud, adding a new twist to an old tale. Although I knew half way through how the feud would resolve from the pizza perspective (one knows from the outset how the romance will resolve), I must admit without giving anything away that I had not foretold the catalyst, despite several clues.

One thing that not all R&J adaptations have is a romantic subplot in addition to the main one; but the one here was just as touching, if not more so, due perhaps to its unexpectedness, than the main one. I'm a sucker for a warm-hearted love story, especially when presented in the context of strong, close-knit families; and these two love stories together had me making my way to the kitchen for tissues more than once toward the end.

I rate this movie based on its context in addition to traditional factors; thus, for a TV movie, it scores well in my book.