Director: Kat Coiro
Cast: Halle Bailey, Regé-Jean Page, Marco Calvani, Aziza Scott, Lorenzo de Moor, Isabella Ferrari
Screenplay: Ryan Engle
105 mins. Rated PG-13 for some strong language, and sexual material.

Director Kat Coiro (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) wants you to see her new romantic comedy on the big screen, a lofty goal considering that rom-coms and regular comedies have both mostly been punted to the small screen streaming world. Lower ticket sales and the ease of the streaming format have made it tough for rom-coms to really pop in the theatrical landscape, and Coiro’s new film You, Me & Tuscany may be a little rough around the edges, but it won this viewer over with its colorful cast of characters, a loving look at the culture, and a central romance that actually works.

Anna (Halle Bailey, The Little Mermaid) is a house-sitter without a home when she meets Matteo (Lorenzo de Moor, Another Simple Favor), a globe-trotting Italian man who owns a villa in Italy and never uses it. She decides to head there herself for a little break from her daily life and quickly gets discovered by Matteo’s family who believe she is his new fiance. Now, she has to play the part for the next few days in order to get home, but she also sees sparks with Matteo’s cousin Michael (Regé-Jean Page, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves).

You, Me & Tuscany has a classic romantic comedy concept, almost like an Italian While You Were Sleeping, and the strength of this story builds from a fairly lackluster place at the beginning, swelling to a joyful and pretty funny little tale that hits all the familiar beats with a confident and entertaining energy. Don’t let the opening fool you. Coiro’s film has an opening scene that comes across rather wooden, and Anna re-explains her background with an opening montage followed by several scenes of repeating it over and over, hammering the audience with the details like a Netflix film worried about its viewers being on their phone instead of paying attention. From there, though, there’s a comfortable cadence to these familiar romantic comedy notes that doesn’t reinvent the wheel, nor does it have to.

The chemistry between Bailey’s Anna and Page’s Michael is palpable from early on, and there’s an inherent sweetness to the back and forth of their connection that made me forget that I already knew where we were headed. If you’ve seen the trailer, it’s hard to see that there were many surprising moments in the film, but I don’t think You, Me & Tuscany is aiming for surprise. It’s aiming for an earnest and pleasantly comfortable experience that eventually won me over.

What seals the deal in Coiro’s film is the assortment of wonderfully silly side characters within Matteo’s family and beyond. From a lovable romantic taxi driver who steals every scene to a collection of offbeat side characters like Matteo’s sister who has a secret romance with an Italian plummer named Luigi, there are so many enjoyable and unusual people surrounding Anna that I looked forward to more time with each of them. Isabella Ferrari (The Great Beauty) and Paolo Sassanelli also shine as Matteo’s parents who bring a nice warmth to the cast.

You, Me & Tuscany takes a few beats to really get going (and the musical score is really distracting and uneven), but once it commits to its central concept, director Kat Coiro brings a confidence in her material that builds nicely to a familiar but ultimately quite entertaining romantic comedy that has enough of the “rom” and the “com” to be worth recommending. Between the romance at the center and the Italian hijinks surrounding it, there’s even room for a beautiful tale of found family, forgiveness, and food.

3.5/5
-Kyle A. Goethe