| Overall Grade: |
B+ |
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| Story: |
B |
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| Acting: |
B+ |
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| Direction: |
B |
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| Visuals: |
A |
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A prime example of "yuppie porn."
by "Llama" (movies profile)
Jul 1, 2005
8
of
9 people found this review helpful
Roger Ebert affectionately called this film a prime example of "yuppie porn." It is indeed. Every single shot of this fairy tale drips with the angst of rich middle-aged women. This film represents all those dreams of leaving one's husband, flying off to a romantic European setting, and falling in love with a mysterious stranger whose accent is as noticeable as his five o'clock shadow.
The woman who gets to experience that dream in this film is none other than Diane Lane, whose performance in last year's 'Unfaithful' was one of the very best I had ever seen. In this story, however, she is the one who is cheated on by her husband. He files for divorce and she is consoled by her two lesbian friends, who give her a ticket on a gay tour of Tuscany, which they can no longer go on because of a surprise pregnancy. She reluctantly takes the gift and finds herself traveling the region in search of new hope.
That hope comes in the form of a rundown old villa in the beautiful countryside of Tuscany. She immediately buys it and goes to work rebuilding and refurnishing both the villa and her life. The film introduces her, and us, to all sorts of improbably quirky characters... the builders, her neighbors, an eccentric lady who seems to be living in a Fellini movie. None of them are particularly believable, but they are all tremendously likable. It all goes hand in hand with the notion that this is a fairy tale more than a literal adventure.
Romances bloom and fade, storms rattle the villa to its foundation, Polish boys fall in love with Italian girls, lesbians break up, faucets don't work... it's all so darn colorful and lively. 'Under the Tuscan Sun' may be a tad light and fluffy, but it is very hard to get bored during the film. The two hours flew by and I had a smile on my face for almost the entire running length. I can't complain too much about that!
Other than the gorgeous cinematography, the main star of this film is Diane Lane, who probably needed to a do a lighter film after completing the adulterous thriller for which she was Oscar nominated. She has a marvelous ability as an actress to be sympathetic in almost every film she does. It is very easy to root for her characters to find happiness. When she smiles, we smile. When she cries, we cry. There aren't too many actors or actresses who generate more emotional range than she. Diane Lane is one of the very best we have.
Overall, this film is easy to like and impossible to hate, unless you are a big grouch. But this 'chick-flick' is too corny and and lightweight to be considered great cinema. However, I can easily recommend it to anyone who is in the mood for a few good laughs and some cheesy romance. I think the only group that should steer clear is the 'typical teenage zit-faced boy who would rather watch Vin Diesel blow something up than Diane Lane making out with and getting felt up by a Mediterranean hunk' demographic.
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Written by T.C. Candler |
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