La Dolce Villa

Well.. I am wondering if there will come a time, when Netflix movie will be more high quality?

It seems to me most of the movies made are made to have it as a backdrop while cooking, which is too bad. Probably we are to blame cause we watch them and create demand.

This one in particular is actually a nice plot with a lot of potential due to popular romanticised reality of foreigners buying 1 euro houses in Italia, but it is again made so cheesy and corny and lacks depth or quality acting. Feels very superficial. Don't get me wrong, it still is a nice backdrop, mostly due to surroundings and location, but otherwise lacks depth heavily. It is too bad, cause all these films seem half-done, and like my parents used to tell me my whole life, getting things half done is worse than not doing them. I must agree.

From the trailer you can already tell the story and feeling you will get from this movie. It is a cute charming movie for the whole 'familia'. Sure, with a foreseeable storyline and few bumps on the path of realism or logic, but overall the story checks out. The characters and actors fit quite well and manage to attract interest, they are a bit cliché - ok a lot of cliché, still, they are charming. This feels like a short and sweet Italian vacation at the countryside. Dont watch if you feel already grumpy before watching - let the grumpy character be the mysterious man that left the villa. This is a movie to relax and feel a bit of dolce far niente. And I typically avoid spoilers in my reviews at all cost but... here I will make a tiny exception to the rule: make sure to have a warm pizza ready for the end of this cute movie. Buon appetito!

Overall, it was a sweet family movie. First of all cinematography is very good, like all Italian movies it makes you fall in love with Italy. The main focus in this movie for me was the relationship between father and daughter, I love how they showed their dynamics and the development of their relationship and trust between them during the movie. The movie looks like the very good advertisement for Italy, its food and people, they really focused on those aspects. This is movie is also about the second love story in the middle ages, also Giovanni and Olivia were soo cute together such a cute chemistry between them.

Easy film to watch with spectacular scenery. The cast gelled well and although a little formulaic the story ran well. Nice to hear the native Italian tongue in amongst the English too.

Scott Foley carries the main lead well and Violante Placido is perfect in her role as town mayor. Some scenes are poignant, without too much schmaltz and there are essences of comedy thrown in too, with the three ladies who sit in the town square. But it is the scenery that really steals the show and makes the movie very watchable.

I would definitely watch this film again and would put it in my "easy watching" category.

Pretty formulaic Hallmark movie kind of vibe, but it's jolly to watch on a relaxing day. If you familiar with rom-coms, then you can pretty well predict where this story goes, there aren't much surprises. At the same time, the movie is rightly phased and doesn't make you to feel bored.

All the lead actors, Scott Foley, Violante Placido, Maia Reficco were good, and fit in pretty well in this Rom-Com. They are well complimented by the Italian supporting actors.

Location and cinematography are excellent, and landscape can be counted as an actor as well, so lively and refreshing.

Delivered without fail, perhaps even better than expected. If you are a familiar rom-com viewer, then this one will NOT fail you.