Lettres à Juliette

I had expectations of seeing a nominal quality love story going in. I was pleasantly surprised that this film was a noticeable cut above the average. I enjoyed it a great deal; and judging from the audience, so did everyone else.

A long time ago I realized that the way the best love stories work is to make the audience wish they could be the character on the screen. This movie does this in spades.

The major weight of carrying the film rested squarely on the shoulders of Amanda Seyfried. Other than being very lovely shoulders, she did an excellent job of portraying her character. She has a great range of endearing expressions. I've seen her in a couple of other films that I enjoyed her in, but none better than this; even considering the broader production values of "Mama Mia". She was radiantly beautiful and added just the right note of intelligence, warmth and charm. In one scene where her character described her excellent education, it didn't seem ludicrous coming from her as it has in the past from other actors. I'm looking forward to seeing more of her - and not just because of her radiant beauty either.

The rest of the cast did an admirable job as well. Gael García Bernal did well in his role of Seyfried's distracted workaholic fiancé. Later in the film, the arrival of Christopher Egan as counterpoint to Bernal was handled with better than average skill by Egan. His grandmother, played with subtlety by Vanessa Redgrave, was the focus of the story and has never seemed more sensitive and caring. But hey, fellas, whoever was wrangling the script (Rivera/Sullivan), she wasn't believable saying she was 65 when she's 73. But that was the only off note to me. Finally, Oliver Platt added an enjoyable aside as Seyfried's boss.

Finally, the rest of the productions elements, sets, costumes, locations, etc are all right on the money for the theme and feel of the film; nothing out of place of awkward looking. Excellent entertainment all around.

This film is about an American woman who goes to a trip with her fiancé to Verona, where she discovers a 50-year-old letter to Juliet.

"Letters to Juliet" is not an ordinary romantic comedy. It has the elements of a successful romantic comedy, but it is so much more than that. Despite the predictable ending, the plot is still engaging and is deeply touching. It shows two women, one longing to find a lost true love, and another that longs to find the true love. Their desire for true love is well portrayed, one can see that they do not just want love, but they want the kind of love that transcends and sublimes. And to wait for 50 years for that adds further emotional depth, making it a tearjerker. I think "Letters to Juliet" should earn its place as a modern day classic romantic comedy, on par with "The Notebook".

Really enjoyed this film. A very good story, that had many good moments, one in particular -- if you've seen the film, you know which one I'm talking about. Redgrave made this film. She is amazing, and she gave the story believability. But the film could have been a classic. Two things got in the way. 1) The story was just a little too light, seems like they were trying too hard to make a romantic comedy, instead of letting it be what it was -- probably the money people were responsibly for that one. 2) The two leads were somewhat unlikable, with zero chemistry. She was OK, but he was a Hugh Grant caricature. The pacing of their relationship was way too fast to be believable. I think this story is good enough to be remade, and I think it should be - with a different Sophie and a different Charlie, and maybe a little (please note I said a "little") more serious tone. Other than Sophie and Charlie, I think the film was very well cast.

Even though you know what's coming, bring a hankie or two. The women are gorgeous (and some of the men) and wise. The men need a little schooling in the art of love, except for Lorenzo - another of those Italian caricatures who seems transformed into flesh and blood from Carrara marble. The real surprise here is how little of the movie was actually filmed in or around Verona, Italy. Where was it filmed? Mostly at a glorious inn a bit north of Siena, and around the hill town of Montalcino, which is farther south - all in Tuscany. The film is really something of an infomercial for the large Caparzo winery and their various tourist properties. On that level, the movie succeeds brilliantly. The men who are dragged to see it will be fascinated to see where Chianti Classico and Brunello di Montalcino are grown. The women, however, will want to be taken back to Verona (literally and figuratively) to find out if Juliet's house, balcony, wall and statue really exist (they do, although she didn't). And what about the secretaries? They exist, and they really do answer letters. Each year, in fact, they choose the preceding year's best and bestow a prize. Wonder if that's how this movie was really inspired?

I really enjoyed this movie, although you can predict easily what will happen next it is still enjoyable to watch. This is definitely the best chick flick I've seen, while other chick flicks lack in originality this movie truly shows what true love is like and has it's own type of element. Amanda Seyfried is not one of my favorite actresses but I honestly thought she did great in this movie unlike her other ones. She made the whole movie better through her acting and I truly enjoyed it. I thought the ending was a little unoriginal but they way the created the scene made it a whole lot better. I believe the directors/writers did a great job planning out this movie other than the fact of predictability. I give this movie an 8 out of 10 because it was good but it was very predictable.