Such decidedly cheesy, intentionally shallow films like “You, Me & Italy” are (unfortunately) hardly ever shown in cinemas anymore, but usually end up directly on streaming or on specialized TV channels like Hallmark. That’s why you keep your fingers crossed when one does make it onto the big screen – especially when it features Halle Bailey (“The Little Mermaid”) and Regé-Jean Page (“Bridgerton”) as prominently (and attractively) as this trip to Italy by “Marry Me” director Kat Coiro. But the sun-drenched, high-gloss romantic fairy tale seems somewhat carelessly turned down, with bright colors but with a flat story that could also come from a moralistic garden arbor novel from the beginning of the 20th century:
The New Yorker Anna (Halle Bailey) gave up a promising apprenticeship as a cook for family reasons and has been struggling as a house sitter ever since. She often helps herself to her customers’ refrigerators – and is therefore quickly thrown out the door by the super-rich. Shortly before her final despair, Anna meets the handsome Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor), a wealthy, amiable Italian who has ended up in New York on the run from his family. Their eyes meet, but before things come to an end, Matteo has fallen asleep. Instead, Anna develops her own plan: She wants to fulfill her late mother’s last wish and travel to Italy in her place…
They would certainly have had a lot more potential: Halle Bailey as Anna and Regé-Jean Page as Michael.
Embedded in the charming Tuscan landscape with its picturesque villages, rolling hills and tourist buses that only occasionally pass through, a story is built here that is as implausible as it is simple, in which a lot is hinted at but little is explained. Everything is full of clichés, but at the same time as well-behaved and clean as parents want for their 12-year-old daughters, who are probably the main target group. Of course, Anna makes it to Italy with little luggage, but in which a surprisingly large number of pretty clothes can fit – directly to the town where Matteo comes from. She immediately finds his empty villa and simply moves in. When Matteo’s mom and grandmother show up, Anna pretends to be the missing man’s fiancée. A white lie that also becomes a problem because Anna has a terrible crush on Matteo’s stepbrother Michael (Regé-Jean Page), who comes from England.
Halle Bailey truly deserved better than this script, which is full of mistakes and coincidences, relies exclusively on tried-and-tested means and doesn’t offer a single twist that hasn’t been seen dozens of times before. Apparently they wanted to protect the audience from too many surprises, as well as from female nudity. But it’s not just in terms of stuffiness that “You, Me & Italy” is reminiscent of various 1950s comedies such as “It Began in Naples” with Sophia Loren, in which love in and for Italy, including dolce vita, music and spaghetti, was celebrated with a maximum of clichés. There are also plenty of them here: from the kind-hearted taxi driver to the gardener belting out arias to the ever-worried mom and the evil ex – and of course people sing, eat, dance and celebrate to their heart’s content.
“You, Me & Italy” really doesn’t leave out any Italy clichés.
There are also images that always seem sugary – as sticky as a far too sweet tiramisu. And when the script stalls again, pointless drone shots of the admittedly beautiful landscape are interspersed. Halle Bailey plays with confident cuteness a young, actually quite self-confident woman who, however, tends to be clumsy in the presence of her beloved. Her obvious empowerment as a Black girl is one of a few positives in this film.
Regé-Jean Page, as Michael, plays the RomCom counterpart attentively and the two actually harmonize quite well, so that you can at least dream of a film in which you would have expected them to do a lot more: a few streamlined dialogues, for example, or a few dry screwball sayings here and there. But unfortunately there is little left other than clumsy slapstick and a lot of spaghetti.
Conclusion: Pretty well-behaved and sterile entertainment, which is primarily about adoring the attractive couple Regé-Jean Page and Halle Bailey in the enchanting Tuscan hilly landscape. Beautiful people, beautiful landscape, beautiful weather – but unfortunately not a beautiful film.