Love in the Villa

I'm a huge fan of these Hallmark type romantic, feel good, always set in a beautiful location, happy ending movies. The scenery was stunning, wish I was there! The main issue though, was that the leads had absolutely zero chemistry. I never really cared about either one of them, which is a shame, because I like them both individually as actors. I never believed either was ever interested in the other, and didn't care if they would end up together or not. I ended up skipping through most of the second half. I was so bummed because I really needed a good rom-com today. Unfortunately, this wasn't it.

I like Tom Hooper, and frankly it would have been better if there was a different female lead actor. She was the typical American tourist, fish out of water. It was a purely predictable movie and you can feel your brain cells dying as you watch it.

If you need to kill time, with some time with something in the background, maybe. But, I would not recommend this for anything else.

The cats were the best part of it, and some of the scenery. Aside from that... I would have rated it lower.

Summary: childish pranks that aren't funny. Kat Graham's character is horrible (as the typical American Tourist). Cats were great. Scenery great. Tom Hooper was ok (he is underrated and I can't believe he took this role).

This is an easy watch and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Seeing the trailer and synopsis you should kind of know what to expect. This is not a Oscar contender. You know it's a light romantic comedy which should follow a certain path. The Romeo and Juliet symbolism is driven strongly, I wish they lightened up on this a bit, a mention now and then would have been fine. The comedy is hit and miss, sometimes it lands and sometimes it falls flat. The two leads are likeable enough and do their bit to carry the film.

To those hating the film, what did you expect? You can't expect a Picasso. People need to manage their expectations. Mine weren't very high and I didn't expect a story to rival Romeo and Juliet but a very light and passable film so I wasn't very disappointed. I think the simplicity and the funny introduction of the two main leads worked reasonably well. I have a tolerance for these sort of rom coms instead of the over the top painful rom coms that have been released.

Romcoms can be cute. Usually, it starts off light and humorous, then hits you with the magic, and leaves you in sad-happy tears in the back end.

Didn't happen this time.

Both characters were not "lovable" characters to begin with. The back and forth bordered on attempted suicide... just in bad taste in my opinion... what I mean is that there wasn't much wit in the tit for tat foreplay. Then suddenly, things take a quick turn as if they are both almost different characters basked in kindness and restraint longing for each other.

Considering the location, I'm not even sure we got to see the charms of this Italian city so much either. And that's a shame. Don't just tell us you're in Italy, show us you're in Italy. That's part if the charm and why we want to see the movie... love in Italy!

All in all, the magic didn't happen for me.

I mean this movie isn't going to become an iconic romcom of the decade. Of course it's cheesy but it's no different than most movies in its genre. It's far better than anything on Hallmark. Kat and Tom make a great looking tv couple and the Italian setting is beautiful. My only complaint is Kat's outfits! She is an extremely beautiful woman and why in the world she got stuck in the clothes she did was beyond me! They had so many opportunities to put her in a beautiful cocktail dress or evening gown and instead they dressed her like an adult toddler. I did feel like the two had chemistry despite other reviews.