Letters to Juliet

    Alright, Ladies. We've had a rough year so far. Movies marketed to women have been disturbingly terrible all year. I'm talking about lazy writing, two-dimensional characters, and unintelligent storylines. I've sat through comedic relief that consisted of people running into lamp posts and women making walrus-like noises while giving birth. I've watched obnoxiously, self-absorbed women make bad decisions and fall for boring men. There hasn't been an ounce of romance or comedy in the romantic comedies and the last good drama had a catastrophic ending that ruined the rest of the movie. In fact, the movies marketed towards women have been some of the worst movies I've seen this year. I can't say that about Letters to Juliet. I'm not saying that Letters to Juliet was mind-blowingly moving or worth winning any awards. I am saying that it could be woth watching. Compared to the rest of this year's romances, that's saying a lot.

    Amanda Seyfried is Sophie, a fact checker for The New Yorker. Sophie is engaged to Victor, played by Gael Garcia Bernal, on whom I've had a crush for a few years now. The two of them decide to go on a pre-marriage honeymoon in Verona. Since Victor is in the process of opening a restaurant, he takes advantage of the fact that he's in Italy and goes wine and cheese tasting at all the local vineyards. Unfortunately, Sophie doesn't get her thrills from vineyards quite like Victor does. I'm not sure anyone is quite as excited about cheese and wine as Victor is. So, Sophie decides to go sight seeing on her own. She finds Juliet's house. Taped to the walls are letters written by sobbing and heart broken women to Juliet Capulet. Sophie then meets the ladies who write back- The Secretaries of Juliet. Since Victor continues to busy himself with his almost unhealthy passion for Italian food, Sophie decides to help the Secretaries for a day. While collecting letters from the wall, she finds one letter that had been hidden in the wall. Despite the fact that the letter is fifty years old, she decides to write back. Her reply convinces the woman, Claire played by the magnificent Vanessa Redgrave, to come back to Italy from her home in London and find her lost love, Lorenzo Bartollini. Claire's grandson, Charlie played by Christopher Egan, comes also. Sophie asks to tag along with them and despite Charlie's protests, Claire agrees. And so, the trio drives around beautiful Tuscany, listening to Italian pop to meet over seventy Lorenzo Bartollinis.

    Letters to Juliet was flawed, but still more than watchable. If I had Ebert's stars, I'd give it 2 1/2 or 3. I think it's safe to assume that the audience knows going in that this movie is a melodramatic love story. I would even assume that this is what the audience is hoping for. For the first half an hour, that was the only tone of the movie. The set up made me nervous that I would have to deal with nearly two hours of sweeping violins and a leading lady whose only personality trait is "romantic." Luckily, this wasn't the case. The women were all romantics, but not because they were women. Their characters fit the context of the film. There was a moment somewhere in the middle of the film when I realized that Sophie wasn't a flat character whose only emotions revolved around love. She felt negative emotions; she just chose to ignore them. Amanda Seyfried did some pretty good actressing to present this. It was a subtle detail that really won me over. The movie was filled with nice subtleties that kept it from falling into the abyss reserved for sappy melodramas. These moments included the breath-taking portrayal of Tuscany, our trio's joking jabs at one another, and the chemistry between Claire and Sophie. It was also nice to see a movie where we weren't told everyone's characters, but shown.

    However, there was one glaring flaw in Letters to Juliet: there was a complete lack of suspense. I know that anyone going to see this movie is going because they want to see certain events take place. And this film is set up to appease. So, any suspense would be false anyway. But it still seems necessary. Why keep watching if there isn't a kernel of doubt that a story won't end exactly as we expect? I partially blame the trailer. Anyone who has seen the trailer has seen the movie. But only partially- a good writer can always create suspense. Besides, you can't have real drama without a little suspense.

    Letters to Juliet delivers exactly what it promises us. There is nothing more and nothing less. While, I enjoyed it for the scenery and refreshingly good acting, I wanted to like it more. I wanted to be surprised. I will say that the audience in the packed theater loved it. They laughed at all the little jokes, aw-ed at the kissing scenes, and even applauded when the credits came up. I suppose I'm not the only one who's noticed the dearth of good romances this year.