Movie Review: Letters to Juliet (2010)

Ciao!

February is a month known for what happens on the 14th: Valentineʼs Day! We are still a few days away, but I thought Iʼd be ahead of schedule and write about a chick-flick today. Do you like seeing beautiful scenery in films? If you do, then read on!

My guarantee: On ALL of my reviews there are NO spoilers unless I give you warning. This is spoiler free! Iʼm just here to make you curious so you have to see it for yourself to find out how it all turns out!

Letters to Juliet (2010):

Sophie and her fiancé Victor are taking a vacation in Italy before their wedding. Victor is opening a restaurant so instead of seeing the sights of the country he goes to a lot of food tastings. Meanwhile Sophie goes to the Juliet's Wall in Verona and finds a society called “the secretaries of Juliet”. Each year people leave notes there and those ladies reply to those letters. Sophie finds one that was hidden for 50 years, and asks if she can reply to it. Awhile later she is found by an angry young man who is accompanying his grandmother--the lady Sophie wrote to and inspired to find the man she once loved. Sophie is now invested in this story and wants to write about it. They set out to find the man Claire loved when she was younger. The grandson, Charlie, hates it as he sees the thing as a waste of time, and could he be right? Where does love go after all of those years?

“I'm sorry, I didn't know love had an expiration date.”

Genre: Romance.

Length: approx. 105 minutes.

Script: 9, I donʼt think there were any bad words at all. Iʼm taking off one point because of a really cheesy line near then end that had my sister and I laughing at how bad it was. But, this one was nice:

ʻ“You get to skip the messy bits.”

“Life is the messy bits.”ʼ

Crew: Directed by: Gary Winick. Written by: Jose Rivera & Tim Sullivan. 

Starring:

Amanda Seyfried as Sophie Hall.

Vanessa Redgrave as Claire Smith-Wyman.

Christopher Egan as Charlie Wyman. 

Gael García Bernal as Victor.

Marcia DeBonis as Lorraine.

Luisa Ranieri as Isabella.

Marina Massironi as Francesca.

Lydia Biondi as Donatella.

Milena Vukotic as Maria.

 Daniel Baldock, Marcello Catania, Benito Deotto, Sandro Dori, Adriano Guerri, Stefano Guerrini, Angelo Infanti, Franco Nero, Giacomo Piperno, Remo Remotti, Fabio Testi, & Elio Veller as different Lorenzos.

Ashley Lilley as Patricia.

Costumes: 7, I donʼt have much of an opinion on this part. Maybe some people would consider them low in places? I thought that Sophieʼs wardrobe was very cute. 

Cinematography: 10, the visuals and scenery are one place where this movie really shines. After watching it you immediately want to go to Italy! It is just a gorgeous place! I couldn't find any good pictures, so you'll have to watch it to see.

Cinematography by: Marco Pontecorvo.

Music: 8, not particularly memorable, but if I were to use a word to describe the score, that word would be "bright". I'm not quite sure how that works because brightness is visual, but that's the feeling it gives me (and now I have a different song stuck in my head...). My memory is a little foggy, but I remember that in the background there were songs sung in Italian? That was neat!

Music by: Andrea Guerra.

Quotability: 7, note that Iʼve only watched it once, and usually once you rewatch things you are sure to quote them so this score might change over time. I can see myself repeating Charlieʼs sarcasm. I docked a point again for that one line because it was so painfully cringe-worthy. Now that I think about it, my sister and I have found ourselves saying this quite often:

“One of the great joys in life is having one's hair brushed.”

Content: 8, for a rude gesture, a few mildly suggestive things, and kissing (itʼs a romance, so that last one is expected). I thought it was really clean, though!

Originality: 9, the whole setting in Italy and looking for Claireʼs Lorenzo was so cute and unique! The rest of it follows the normal romance plot, but overall I thought it had fun spins on it. The characters were more developed than you usually see in those kinds of things!

Good For: Romance and chick-flick fans.

Age Range: Itʼs rated PG, so fine for pretty much all ages!

Overall Score: 8!

Worth watching?: Yeah! My sister and I actually had quite the fun experience with this. We decided to challenge ourselves and for once in our lives stay up all night long. We didnʼt make it that long and fell asleep pretty soon. But, before that we watched this movie! Iʼd seen people mention it, so I was glad to finally see what they were talking about.

Will I watch again?: Usually my answer to this question for chick-flicks is no, just because I got tired of it, but not in this case! I definitely want to see it again sometime. I donʼt know why I liked this one when I havenʼt others, but it just gave me the “warm fuzzies” as people say.

Bonus thoughts:

“Charlie doesn't approve, which makes it all the more fun.”

Claire was an absolute dear! (And no, I donʼt think Iʼm biased.) She was so sweet, she was my favorite, no doubt! It was a contrast to her grandson Charlie (whom we still love in his own way)! The relationships between all of these characters were great. I really liked Victor, he was a sweetheart. I liked how connected--yet different!--the things the characters were going through. Sophie was a fun protagonist and her involvement in the story is what makes it all happen!

I don't usually (or so I claim) like chick-flicks, but this was cute! I liked it a lot better (SO MUCH) than the last one I watched, Leap Year (2010).

I donʼt have much to say besides that. I had a fun time, and I think that if you enjoy these kinds of movies then you will too!

For the blogathon:

This is my entry in Cordy at Any Merry Little Thoughtʼs Lovely Blog Party! She is hosting it all month long to celebrate favorite couples in books and movies!

From this moment on: SPOILER ALERT! I WILL BE TALKING ABOUT THE END OF THIS MOVIE! So please, read no further if you haven't seen it.

Walk away if you haven't seen this! (Or scroll away or however you want to do that).

I really liked that we got to explore an older relationship! Claire and Lorenzo's story made me so happy. It was so nice that they loved their former partners and would always, but the fact that they were able to find happiness in each other after loss and grief made my heart swell. Also, the people who portray them, Vanessa Redgrave and Franco Nero are married in real life! That added a beautiful extra layer.

I love me a good hate-to-love romance. It's usually my favorite kind. This one was very good! Sometimes writers make two characters hate each for no clear reason! That is so frustrating. But, this avoided that! We clearly see why Charlie is so upset with Sophie when they first meet! It was well written and sweet.

Thank you to Cordy for hosting! Have any of you seen this or do you think you will now? Do any of you constantly claim that you hate romance movies but end up being surprised from time to time (As anyone can tell you, I am very guilty with doing that)? Favorite chick-flick? Anyone else know any "bright" music? Thanks for reading!

Arrivederci! 

MovieCritic