Did you know that you can buy villas in Italy for 1 Euro? Yes it’s a major reconstruction job, but then you’ll get to say you have a villa in Italy, with the ability to go to Tuscany as early and often as possible. Why I am bringing this up. Because You, Me, and Tuscany is gonna remind everyone to maybe consider taking up that Italian trip again, and a 1 Euro Investment is certainly a more interesting way to get there…as well as maybe Kat Coiro’s next romcom idea?
Despite her seemingly high living lifestyle, Anna (Halle Bailey) knows it’s all a fraud. House sitting for rich people only goes so far…at some point Anna’s gotta get her life going again as her bff Claire (Aziza Scott) reminds her. Sulking at Claire’s job’s bar, Anna strikes up a connection with Matteo (Lozenzo de Moor), an overworked Italian real estate mogul lamenting abandoning his family and villa in Tuscany. He bolts the next day, but Anna the aspiring chef decides this is her sign to pick up on a whim and go to San Conessa Tuscany, where a series of unfortunate romcom circumstances land her in Mateo’s villa, and in the sights of Michael (Rege-Jean Page), Mateo’s brother…his smokeshow vineyard running hunk of a man.
You, Me and Tuscany could have been a CGI green screened dump to a streamer. So props to Universal for throwing some money behind it and giving it a chance to be a hit. Filming in Italy is NEVER a bad idea for a romcom; every time we cut from scene to scene there’s an impossibly beautiful shot of Pienza (the real San Conessa) and the surrounding Tuscan countryside that will make your heart grow instantly. We get real setpieces here too, like Anna trying to evade capture by climbing down a drain pipe, or the San Conessa festival with real extras and an equally embarrassing Michael/Mateo moment. Maybe the greatest expense though is the food; You, Me, and Tuscany builds its story about how making food for loved ones is you giving your life to them, and each meal is maybe even more beautiful than the surroundings the ingredients come from. Real places with real food, in the real most beautiful swoony place on the planet? Sounds like a perfect romcom recipe for me.
As for the rest, You, Me, and Tuscany is the chicken parmesan of romcantic comedies: yes we’ve had it before, but it’s so good of course you keep coming back for more. The two leads are excellent: Halle Bailey is beautiful and the right mixture of delusional and heartbroken, making insane choices that only Anna would make but having the charm/charisma to talk her way out of it. Rege-Jean Page proves Bridgerton wasn’t a fluke: he’s the eye candy of the movie, getting the big shirtless sequence in the vineyards; he’s also got complete mastery of the breathtaking stare, that instantly makes the recipient leave the room, flush, and completely turned on. The romcom best friends are all winning too; Aziza Scott and Marco Calvani do incredible work splitting the role of “best friend”. Calvani does the in person good cop while Scott’s Claire uses word daggers to stab Anna’s balloon and bring her back to reality (but in a fun way) as is necessary in romantic fantasy. Stella Pecollo has a blast playing the sex crazed in law Anna has to be around. Lorenzo de Moor has a tricky part to play, both being a love interest then quickly turning into a foil, but he’s having a ball doing it. Isabella Ferrari, Stefania Casini, and Paolo Sassanelli are the emotional gravitas of the movie, well written to be euphoric over Mateo’s return home and not particularly cruel to Anna for her fabrications. And props to Kat Coiro for showing me who Desiree Popper is: ominously standing as Anna’s threat but I think also the most beautiful person that ever existed in gorgeous Italian wares.
Like the funny lady on the tour says, you can Eat Pray Love me baby too. You, Me, and Tuscany is very much that sentiment, just a joyful time traveling and falling in love, a silly getaway. I hope this makes a billion dollars, so we get 5-10 of these a year, traveling all over the planet to new beautiful romcom swoony places, like Dubrovnik, Stavanger, and Tyrol, Austria. Shout out to Lisa, Fran, and Alex, my amazing friends across the Ocean!