LETTERS TO JULIET

“LETTERS TO JULIET” (Amanda Seyfried, Vanessa Redgrave & Christopher Egan)

As chick flicks go, this is one of the better ones & I think I’ve figured out the reason why – But first, let me ask any female that reads this – Don’t read another word from the end of this sentence until you’ve seen the film . . .

Okay, you’re back. How was it? Did you like it? Were the characters realistic?
Was there just enough sappy romanticism to make you sigh & go ‘awww’?
Yes, surprisingly enough, I felt the same way – it was well written, well acted & only a few scenes delved down into the level of ‘typical awful chick flick smaltz’.
& here’s the secret I’ve discovered about chick flicks that work – It was written by males & directed by a male. I’m going to generalize, which I’m sure will cause movie luva to let out a frustrated grunt as she reads this, but I seem to have noticed that chick flicks that are written, or directed by women don’t work because women (in general, m-l, there are exceptions, of course) can’t write believable dialogue for their male characters, whereas men not only CAN write a realistic female character, but often can do it better than your ‘typical smaltzy chick flick author’.
The two lead characters here are Amanda Seyfried’s Sofie & Vanessa Redgrave’s Clare & they are both very believable – Likable, but not perfect – When Clare realizes she’s about to see the man she ‘left behind’ 50 years ago, she turns pale & wants to leave because ‘she isn’t the 15 year old girl he fell in love with’ a half century earlier. The film makes you feel sorry for Amanda’s Sofie because Victor, her fiancé is only interested in what affects his life & livelihood & couldn’t care less about Sofie’s / However, once she goes off with Clare & her grandson to find the elusive Lorenzo Bartollini (AKA ‘El Bart-O’) Sofie seems to forget that Victor exists as well.
Victor is about to open his own Italian restaurant, so as an engagement/pre-wedding present he takes Sofie to Italy. Victor, whom Sofie already knows is consumed by a fascination with food, wants to spend all of their ‘vacation’ time in wine cellars & kitchens – while Sofie wants to see the sites. They agree to go their own way so they can both enjoy the trip.
Sofie discovers the ‘Letters to Juliet’ (Of “Romeo AND...”) wall where desperate women write an imaginary character for advice on their love lives... Okay, yes, this hokey dingbat plot turned me off at first, but then the reality of it struck me – Women, especially the ones that can be described as ‘desperate’ would actually do something that... ridiculous.
When she sees a woman collect all of the letters & take them home to write responses to the desperately love lorn (with 4 other women assisting) aspiring writer Sofie is sucked into their circle & joins them.
While collecting letters the next day, Sofie accidentally finds a letter that was written 50 years earlier by a young girl named Clare – asking Juliet if she should go back to England with her family or stay with the boy she loves, Lorenzo. Sofie responds to Clare & before you can say ‘How long IS this vacation suppose to last?’ Clare & her grandson Charlie (Christopher Egan) are in Italy, looking for the person who pretended to be Juliet.
Charlie is infuriated by Sofie’s actions by getting his ‘Gran’ excited, only to set her up to be disappointed or devastated (Since he feels Lorenzo is more than likely deceased)
As they travel across Italy tracking down the 70-something Lorenzo Bartollini’s, the film drags – but in the end I realized it had to be that way in order to make the chemistry that grows between Sofie & Charlie believable. So they sacrificed a boring stretch for the sake of realism & I can’t argue against that decision.
Charlie, a pompous Brit, who is more than just a twit concerned with his beloved Gran’s well being, wins Sofie over by being... well, like me – an honest, pompous smart-alec; “Gran took me in as a young boy and turned me into the unpleasant person you see now,” he tells Sofie exposing his honesty.
I was a little disappointed that the pseudo-lesbian relationship that Clare & Sofie slowly develop didn’t come full circle, but my wife told me that was just wishful thinking by a deranged pervert. I’m sorry but any guy that watches the elderly Clare as she gently combs young Sofie’s long cascading hair is going to feel a little tingle in his sprinkler anticipating the robes coming off & the nude March/December lesbian lovemaking scene to begin...
The ending stoops to ‘typical’ chick flick fare, but by then the characters have won you over, so you don’t care that it has a smaltzy finale with a tiresome twist that’s been seen hundreds of times before. I was shocked that ‘Letters To Juliet’ still managed to make me feel as though I not only didn’t waste my money, but was actually entertained by it.