Love in the Villa

After seeing Letters to Juliet and a few Hallmark movies revolving around the famous balcony, I wasn't expecting anything new.

The leading lady is adorable, the leading man tall and imposing and they follow the classic trope set down by Darcy and Elizabeth with the hate to love story line.

The location scouts did a wonderful job finding shots of Verona I haven't seen before and the two leads made it a little bit special with their own unique personalities. Their war over the flat was entertaining, their loathing funny and engaging.

( Shout out to "Blake" the waiter, who made me lol )

If you don't want to be surprised and need something sweet and soft, look no further.

Grab a blankie, a glass of wine/cup of tea and settle in.

I mean this movie isn't going to become an iconic romcom of the decade. Of course it's cheesy but it's no different than most movies in its genre. It's far better than anything on Hallmark. Kat and Tom make a great looking tv couple and the Italian setting is beautiful. My only complaint is Kat's outfits! She is an extremely beautiful woman and why in the world she got stuck in the clothes she did was beyond me! They had so many opportunities to put her in a beautiful cocktail dress or evening gown and instead they dressed her like an adult toddler. I did feel like the two had chemistry despite other reviews.

I like Tom Hooper, and frankly it would have been better if there was a different female lead actor. She was the typical American tourist, fish out of water. It was a purely predictable movie and you can feel your brain cells dying as you watch it.

If you need to kill time, with some time with something in the background, maybe. But, I would not recommend this for anything else.

The cats were the best part of it, and some of the scenery. Aside from that... I would have rated it lower.

Summary: childish pranks that aren't funny. Kat Graham's character is horrible (as the typical American Tourist). Cats were great. Scenery great. Tom Hooper was ok (he is underrated and I can't believe he took this role).

I'm a huge fan of these Hallmark type romantic, feel good, always set in a beautiful location, happy ending movies. The scenery was stunning, wish I was there! The main issue though, was that the leads had absolutely zero chemistry. I never really cared about either one of them, which is a shame, because I like them both individually as actors. I never believed either was ever interested in the other, and didn't care if they would end up together or not. I ended up skipping through most of the second half. I was so bummed because I really needed a good rom-com today. Unfortunately, this wasn't it.

Note to scriptwriters: don't waste the first half of your film making your two leads unattractive, petty self absorbed characters. Whether they sort it out or continue to vindictively spoil each other's stay in Verona one couldn't care less. Having taken so long to make them so thoroughly unlikable, the writer then has to desperately race against time to make them suddenly realise that they can't live without each other in order to share the obligatory kiss conclusion. This is all as fake and stomach churning as the fake horsemeat pasta prank in the show!

There are some lovely scenic shots of the historic city, especially the amphitheatre, which might be of interest if you're thinking of going there.

I assume the film had a wine company as a sponsor judging by the frequent shots of wine being uncorked and poured.