Let's get the positives of this movie out of the way:
1. Fantastic Italian scenery: From Positano to Florence, the movie shows the audience back drops that take the breath away.
2. Diane Lane: Played very well and convincing 'Frances' character.
Beyond that, the movie is plagued with so much cheese (SPOILERS WARNING):
1. Too many coincidences: Things that happen out of no where, like the bus stopping in front of the house that Frances happened to see earlier advertised on a Real Estate ad. Or France picking up Marcello just to escape the taunting Italian men. And the coincidences continue to pile.
2. Employment: I'm not sure if I am the only person to see that none of the people actually worked in this movie, except for the Polish labor, who renovated her Frances' new (old) home. Coming out of a divorce, you'd expect Frances to have only some change in her pocket, yet she's able to feast with the rest of the characters in the movie like she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Everyone appeared to have too much time on their hands. It all is nice to fantasize, but is highly unreal. And how about Katherine? She's probably living off the alimony from her previous divorces.
3. Clichés and Stereotypes: Hearing that this was a 'chick flick', I expect some clichés, stereotype, and most important, a happy ending. Well, this movie has plenty of them. For starters, the lesbian couple was fine, but introducing the `Gay and Away' tour bus was a little too much. Secondly, seeing both Jerzy with the cigarette in his mouth and Zbigniew with the Polish novel in *every* single shot, portrayed the insignificance of their characters. Then there is the stereotype of Italian men who are nothing but unfaithful and promiscuous. And finally, through all the hardships of seeing Frances' relationships breakdown, she finds another fellow American writer (whom she criticized when he was in high school) who happens to be touring through the Tuscan region of Italy.
To sum it up, this movie is a 5/10 on my book. Some good acting from Diane Lane and great scenery, which couldn't be saved due to hard to swallow reality checks.
1. Fantastic Italian scenery: From Positano to Florence, the movie shows the audience back drops that take the breath away.
2. Diane Lane: Played very well and convincing 'Frances' character.
Beyond that, the movie is plagued with so much cheese (SPOILERS WARNING):
1. Too many coincidences: Things that happen out of no where, like the bus stopping in front of the house that Frances happened to see earlier advertised on a Real Estate ad. Or France picking up Marcello just to escape the taunting Italian men. And the coincidences continue to pile.
2. Employment: I'm not sure if I am the only person to see that none of the people actually worked in this movie, except for the Polish labor, who renovated her Frances' new (old) home. Coming out of a divorce, you'd expect Frances to have only some change in her pocket, yet she's able to feast with the rest of the characters in the movie like she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Everyone appeared to have too much time on their hands. It all is nice to fantasize, but is highly unreal. And how about Katherine? She's probably living off the alimony from her previous divorces.
3. Clichés and Stereotypes: Hearing that this was a 'chick flick', I expect some clichés, stereotype, and most important, a happy ending. Well, this movie has plenty of them. For starters, the lesbian couple was fine, but introducing the `Gay and Away' tour bus was a little too much. Secondly, seeing both Jerzy with the cigarette in his mouth and Zbigniew with the Polish novel in *every* single shot, portrayed the insignificance of their characters. Then there is the stereotype of Italian men who are nothing but unfaithful and promiscuous. And finally, through all the hardships of seeing Frances' relationships breakdown, she finds another fellow American writer (whom she criticized when he was in high school) who happens to be touring through the Tuscan region of Italy.
To sum it up, this movie is a 5/10 on my book. Some good acting from Diane Lane and great scenery, which couldn't be saved due to hard to swallow reality checks.